Margaret Matinde

Impact: Margaret was given the opportunity to save and plan for her family’s future. She took a loan out to open a restaurant and is now able to send her children to school, helping them build up towards their futures.

Nuru International empowers communities in remote rural areas to lift themselves out of extreme poverty in 5 years, leaving behind a sustainable model that continues to scale to neighboring districts to eventually have national level impact. Two program areas in Nuru’s integrated development model are Agriculture and Community Economic Development, which provide rural financial services, including micro-loans and group savings, to over 3,515 Nuru members in Kuria district, Nyanza province.

Margaret Matinde’s story is similar to those of many in Kuria, Kenya that Nuru has been able to help.

Margaret  lived in a typical home made of mud and thatch, working hard each day just to get by, never having enough to send her children to school.  This began to change when Nuru arrived.

She joined a Nuru savings club along with many others in her community. Here she learned the basics of savings, budgeting, and spending limited resources wisely.  Over time, she saved up enough to receive a loan to start her own business.  With her first loan, she opened up a small restaurant.

Margaret has now been a Nuru client for more than three years. Her restaurant is still running successfully and she has been able to expand and offer more selection with following loans. Over time, she has brought in a second income to her family, creating increased stability throughout the hunger season here in Kuria, Kenya, and has inspired her children to strive to achieve in their futures, now being able to afford to send them to school.

Nuru’s saving club and lending programs are facilitated by their Community Economic Development (CED) program.  CED has been using Mifos to run and monitors these programs for the past year and a half.  By using Mifos, Nuru is able to track her loan progress more efficiently and check in with her more frequently to help with the progress of her business.

By supporting the Mifos community, more organizations like Nuru can use technology to expand their service to help more women like Margaret escape from extreme poverty.

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