Sarantuya and Sharaa	Batzorig & Solongo	Tuya Dartang	Myamartsetseg

Srey Pov	Mrs Bo Phon	Theang Phally	Lim Ey

“We are very happy. Our lives have really improved,” says Sarantuya, a Mongolian businesswoman living 230km northwest of the country’s capital, Ulaanbaatar. But Sarantuya’s happiness is a recent development – only now are she and her husband Sharaa able to enjoy the fruits of their labour. 

The couple has three children who are married and work in Ulaanbaatar. Sarantuya worked in a bank until 1996 but lost her job when the bank closed down. In a further blow to the family, Sharaa became unemployed when the sausage factory he worked in closed down in 1997. By 2003 their only source of income was Sarantuya’s small, NZ$73 per month pension. “Life was really difficult and we didn’t know what to do,” says Sarantuya.

Thankfully Sharaa’s father had taught them to grow vegetables, so the couple started a vegetable garden of their own.  As their garden grew they sold surplus vegetables to pay for basic needs such as clothing and firewood.

In 2005, VisionFund workers conducted a household survey in Sarantuya and Sharaa’s neighbourhood.  The couple heard about accessing no-collateral loans, and in late 2005, attended six business-training sessions. In January 2006, Sarantuya and Sharaa took out their first loan of NZ$184, using the funds to set up a small grocery kiosk on their property.  The next loan of NZ$246 in May 2006 enabled them to transport their surplus vegetables to a market in Ulaanbaatar and to purchase more groceries for their kiosk.

Having successfully repaid four loans through a group-lending, community-bank system, Sarantuya and Sharaa graduated to taking out an individual loan.  The couple’s current loan for NZ$3,073, taken in April 2007, has been used to build a small grocery store on the front of their property.

As part of the conditions for taking a VisionFund loan, Sarantuya and Sharaa have been members of a community bank – a local group of entrepreneurial poor Mongolians who guarantee each other’s loans.  The group meets every fortnight with a VisionFund loan officer to make loan repayments and provide mutual business support.

Sharaa and Sarantuya’s future plans include broadening the range of groceries in their store, increasing chicken and pig numbers on their property, and purchasing another plot of land for agricultural purposes. 

The couple are grateful to VisionFund for all the help they have received. “We have enough money for ourselves and to help our youngest daughter attend university,” Sarantuya comments. “Now we are confident and optimistic about the future.”

Batzorig and Solongo raise their two children – 9-year-old Enkhtor and 3-year-old Onongoo – while running a successful business; it’s a success that has been hard won.

Batzorig and Solongo live in Nalaikh, 35 km east of Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar, and began married life labouring in a Mongolian felt factory. Felt is a fabric of matted, compressed animal fibres such as wool and cashmere. The couple’s wages, however, were so low they could not afford to buy enough food and clothing. “I worried about the future of our children,” says Solongo. “When our children became sick we could not afford medicine. Life was very difficult.”  They struggled to pay for school clothing and stationery. Sometimes they would ask people for firewood, for cooking and heating, as they could not afford to purchase enough for themselves.

In an attempt to improve their living conditions, Batzorig and Solongo left the felt factory to start their own small felting business. They applied for a loan from a bank but were turned down as their business was, according to the bank, too small and unstable. The family’s lives took a turn for the better when Enkhtor became a World Vision sponsored child, and they were introduced to VisionFund staff who told them about obtaining a no-collateral business loan.

Following business training, including guidance on how to save money, Batzorig and Solongo took out their first loan for NZ$186 in early 2007. The money enabled the couple to buy larger quantities of wool at a lower price and still have enough money to transport the felt to the market. The felt factory more than doubled its production, meaning Batzorig and Solongo could repay their first loan and receive a bigger loan.

In May 2007, after three of Batzorig and Solongo’s previous work colleagues started working with them, all five staff borrowed NZ$309 each. They pooled their individual loans, purchased a large amount of wool directly from nomadic herders, and bought a mechanised scourer that teases out the raw, knotted wool. Together, the group makes about 50 felt coverings per week, and a weekly profit in excess of NZ$200. The felt coverings are used to provide insulation for traditional Mongolian gers, which are round, tent-like dwellings. Batzorig and Solongo also make felt boots during summer and autumn and sell them in the market during the winter.

The profits from this business have enabled Batzorig and Solongo to replace their small ger with a larger one. Because Solongo is a hairdresser by trade, their plans include increasing the factory’s production to fund a hair salon or small grocery store. They would also like to use future loans to purchase a vehicle to transport wool and felt, and make another felt washer so production can further increase.

Freeing themselves from the grip of poverty was made easier by the helpful staff of VisionFund Mongolia. “VisionFund staff feel like our friends because we can share our problems with them and they help us,” said Solongo.  “I am grateful to VisionFund for providing me with a loan. If I did not get a loan I would still be living in poverty with no hope for the future – now I have no worries as I have an opportunity to improve my life.”

Tuya Dartang worked hard as a nomadic herder in Mongolia. With no home of her own, no money and in poor health, she and her husband Sharavjamts struggled to make their small herd economically viable. No matter how hard they worked, Tuya and Sharavjamts were caught in the poverty trap. In search of a better life for their four children, Tuya and her family moved into town.

What chance of a business loan?
No collateral and no credit history meant no chance of a business loan, and no chance to Tuya to work her way to a better life. But then Tuya heard of VisionFund Mongolia’s non-collateralised small business loans, so she signed up to attend the credit and business training. Tuya already knew of World Vision’s development work in the area. World Vision’s reputation, along with the fair interest rates and ongoing coaching offered as part of the loan, attracted her to join the programme. We’d like you to join this programme too – as a donor – to enable hard-working people like Tuya, with the gritty determination of true entrepreneurs, to work their way out of poverty.

First steps
Tuya’s first step was to borrow NZ$182 from VisionFund. She invested in potato seeds that yielded a crop of 15 tonnes. With the next loan of NZ$352 she diversified her product range, buying vegetable and potato seeds. Tuya harvested 35 tonnes of vegetable as a result. Thanks to underground storage that she and her husband build, the crop provided not only enough vegetables to last for a year but also a healthy surplus to sell at the market.

Hard work and a better life
Before VisionFund changed her life, Tuya’s family often used to suffer from sore throats and the flu. But with hard work and VisionFund finance, Tuya’s income increased. Now she and her family can afford to live in a warm house and eat vegetables. For the first time they are all healthy. With entrepreneurial determination, Tuya and her husband have invested in a second-hand pick-up truck. Now Tuya can drive her vegetables to market – and Tuya’s husbands runs a transportation business when Tuya isn’t using the vehicle. Poor women without collateral like Tuya are bankable. For just a few hundred dollars, VisionFund has changed the lives and future of one family. Tuya and her family are well on the road to self-sufficiency – and they’re worked for it!

“Thank you for giving me a loan. It has increased my family income and improved the life of me and my family,” says Tuya with a beaming smile.

Myamartsetseg Turshmed’s life was turned upside down when her husband started drinking heavily and beating her. Fearing for her safety, Myamartsetseg and her two daughters escaped to her younger sister’s home.

The living conditions were difficult as Myamartsetseg and her daughters were cramped into a small ger – a traditional Mongolian tent – with her sister’s family. As a poor single parent, Myamartsegtseg and her children went without food at times and she could not buy the clothes her daughters needed.

One of Myamartsetseg’s daughters is severely disabled. To enable her to care for her daughter while financially supporting her family, Myamartsetseg realised she would need to work from home. She started asking friends and relatives for very small loans to purchase material to make one or two pairs of felt slippers a week. She was also fortunate enough to receive a ger through a non-government organisation, relieving the burden on her sister’s family.

Not long after, Myamartsetseg met a volunteer from the local governor’s office who told her about accessing small business loans through VisionFund Mongolia. She enrolled in a World Vision Mongolia business-training course, to learn how to run a business, from production to marketing.

After her business training, Myamartsetseg joined a VisionFund Mongolia community bank. Her group has four members, some of whom make shoes and operate a grocery kiosk. They name their community bank is Batjikh, meaning stable or strong. The women in the group provide mutual support and guarantee each other’s loans.

Myamartsetseg took out her first no-collateral loan from VisionFund Mongolia for NZ$162 in July 2005. She used the loan to buy material to make felt slippers and to purchase a section of boundary fence for her property. She followed the first loan with three more, eventually taking one out for NZ$485, all of which were used to buy more felt and complete the fence.

Her most recent loans, of NZ$593 and NZ$650 respectively, have allowed Myamartsetseg to purchase felt at wholesale prices and to increase her level of production to more than 200 pairs of high-quality slippers a month. With a monthly net profit of approximately NZ$300, and contacts to supply four leading souvenir stores in Ulaanbaatar, Myamartsetseg has been able to buy new clothing for her children and furniture for her ger.

“I built up my life from nothing with VisionFund’s help. I don’t lack anything now and can afford all the necessary medications for my disabled daughter,” says a delighted Myamartsetseg.

moved provinces many times while she was young. On top of this, her father suffered from a chronic illness that drained the family’s resources. In order to help her family she left school after third grade.

When she was 11 Srey Pov acquired a sewing machine and taught herself to sew. She got her first glimpse of where this could lead when a cousin took note of her ability and offered her a job. She worked for a couple of years in this small tailoring business, cultivating her skills.

Now, at 36, Srey Pov runs her own tailoring business from her home in Kandal Province, near the capital Phnom Penh. The skill she first learned when she was 11 now provides a means of support for her family of six.

Srey Pov takes pride in her work. She is the only seamstress in her village, her closest competition is an hour’s drive away in Phnom Penh. In fact, Srey Pov’s customers prefer to patronise her business as the quality of the clothing is comparable and her prices are more affordable. Her clothes are so popular that she employs a neighbour to serve in the shop, which sells to between 30 and 50 customers a month. All this was made possible by loans from VisionFund.

The first of her four small VisionFund loans (from NZ$110 to $180) since November 2002 allowed Srey Pov to purchase fabric and supplies to set up the business. She now stocks a spectrum of colours and a wide range of styles of clothing that she sews. She makes everyday clothes, school uniforms, special outfits for celebrations such as Cambodian New Year and even wedding clothes. Her income from the tailoring business is about $145 a month.

Her work ethic is echoed by the rest of the family. In addition to the clothing shop, Srey Pov’s husband, Ly Vuthy, runs a construction business, earning $145-$290 a month and her sons, Ly Soa (14) and Ly Jiew (13), earn $110 per month from their battery charging business. The boys set up the charger before going to school each day and remove the fully-charged batteries after school. Srey Pov won’t let this enterprise get in the way of her sons’ schooling – she intends for them to complete every level.

Three years ago her sister and brother-in-law died leaving behind two children. Srey Pov took her niece and nephew into their household. Now the family is preparing to support them in their dreams. They plan to study beauty therapy and photography in order to open a joint beauty salon/photography studio – an important business for Cambodian weddings and other special occasions.

In an average month the family spends $75 on their household needs and Srey Pov repays $30 a month to VisionFund so that the principal and low-interest on her current loan will be fully repaid after eight months. With the money they save the family have bought a bicycle for the children to ride to school and a motorcycle. They have begun building a house of stone and wood, more structurally sound than the wooden home they live in at present.

These practical symbols of hope in Srey Pov’s life are the results of an important combination: her talent and entrepreneurial spirit, and critical infusions of resources from VisionFund Cambodia. It is this partnership that allows Cambodian families to face today’s challenges and pursue tomorrow’s dreams.

57-year-old Bo Phon has been making Khmer Noodles for 25 years. She learned the skill by watching a neighbour’s family in her home village. Phon was among eight of the 18 members of her family that survived the Pol Pot regime.

Bo Phon and her husband, Phon Phat, live in Kap Ambel. Ten years ago they bought a 1.4 hectare plot which they farmed. To earn a living they also sold second hand clothes, and made rice noodles by hand. Phon’s reputation grew because of her commitment to fresh, quality noodles. However working by hand she was limited to producing only enough to earn about 5,000 Riel (US $1.25) per day.

Phon is a woman of initiative. She borrowed money from relatives for a US$1,000 rice grinding machine that helped them expand their business by producing more noodles.

She learned about World Vision Cambodia’s Micro-Enterprise Development (MED) loans three years ago. She recruited her relatives in a neighbouring village to form a foursome, the number required for a solidarity group. Phon first took out an agricultural loan of 50,000 Riel (US$12.50). With a second loan of US$250 through VisionFund Cambodia, she was able to pay back the loan for the grinding machine. Through increased production, she is able to sell between 60 and 100 kg/day, and earn an average of 20,000 Riel (US$5) per day.

When she was making noodles by hand, her production limit was 300 kg, she can now make up to 500 kg of noodles for special functions. This increased production is quite important, says Phon, because in the last two years her village has seen prices of food and gas rise enormously. In fact, her family spends half of the daily noodle earnings on food now.

Access to VisionFund loans has not only expanded her business but also enabled Phon to maintain the quality of her noodles, a matter of pride for her. “This is the cleanest place in the village,” she boasts.

All this hard work has paid off. Her debt to family members and to VisionFund has been paid. In addition, Bo Phon and Phon Phat have rebuilt their house, bought a motorcycle for delivering noodles to the market, and acquired a bicycle for the children to ride to school. With four children married and three children still at home, Phon’s goal is to maintain this level of income until all the children have graduated from school.

When Theang Phally was 14 years old, her parents’ marriage broke up. In traditionally minded rural-Cambodia, a divorce places a woman in a position of serious vulnerability. Spending her days caring for children at home, she is left without financial support and protection of a husband. This was the case for Phally’s mother.

As the oldest of six siblings, Phally took it upon herself to provide for the family. Dropping out of school after fourth grade, she decided that on top of her work in the fields, she could fit in another income-generating activity.

Rising early every morning, Phally travelled from her home in Thmei Village to the Mekong River port town of Neak Leung. This five-kilometre trip on the bumpy or muddy roads beside the river took her over an hour by bicycle. “I would wake up at about three-thirty or four and get to the market by five,” she recalls.

At the market in Neak Leung, Phally bought fruit and rice grown in downstream Vietnam. She would then load the produce onto her bike and sell it as she pedalled back along the river to her village. After her selling she went to work in her family’s two-hectare soybean and corn fields. This small but innovative fruit selling business supplemented her family’s farm income enough to put food on the table and keep her three youngest brothers in school.

Phally married at 17. Though she moved out of her mother’s home, she continued her daily bicycle and fieldwork routine. Four years later, following difficulties in her marriage, Phally found herself back in her mother’s house, a single mother of a one-year-old.

In 2000, Phally received a loan of NZ$61.50 from VisionFund Cambodia to expand her business. The loan enabled her to open a grocery shop at her mother’s home, offering a greater variety of fruit and vegetables to her neighbours. By faithfully making loan repayments through her VisionFund community bank, she quickly paid off her first loan and became eligible for a second.

Over the last four years, Phally has received four loans of increasing amounts, the largest being NZ$205. These injections of capital allowed her to continue expanding her business. Eventually, her income was such that she could cost-effectively transport the fruit and vegetables by hired boat rather than by bicycle, providing extra capacity to transport more food and freeing up her time. In 2004, Phally purchased a motorcycle, which removed the ongoing boat hire costs. Phally now sells Vietnamese rice, vegetables, fish, meat, and fruit as well as the corn and soybeans grown on the family farm. Through her VisionFund loans, Phally’s profit has increased by NZ$41 a month.

Entrepreneur that she is, Phally has the next goal in sight. “If I can keep saving, I want to buy another motorcycle for my brother, to get him into the business,” she says. Her brother, aged 21, has worked as a full-time farmer since he dropped out of school. A second motorcycle would allow him to drive to the border of Vietnam and buy food for the grocery store directly from Vietnamese merchants, cutting out any intermediary costs.

Phally also thinks in the long-term. She imagines that with enough capital she could buy the adjacent plot of land and expand the business even further. This, she anticipates, would provide a way for the rest of her siblings to make a secure living.

While Phally’s VisionFund loans give her the security and infusion of capital to work toward these goals, she also credits her success to good financial management skills - skills she has built through contact with her VisionFund loan officer and credit supervisor. “Through the support of VisionFund Cambodia, I was able to develop a clear goal for my business,” Phally says. “When clients buy groceries on credit and when I want to buy more products to sell, I am able to keep track of it all.”

In terms of dreams for her daughter Dalin, Phally wants her to be able to attend school through the upper grades. “I don’t want her to follow in her mother’s footsteps,” confesses Phally. “I want her to have a different life than mine.”

In anticipation of the International Year of Microcredit 2005, the United Nations sought to recognise the best examples of microentrepreneurship in developing countries around the world through the Global Microentrepreneurship Awards. The Cambodian awards were held on 12 November 2004, and out of 43 applicants, six VisionFund Cambodia clients were winners. The young woman who captured the award for “Best Demonstration of Overcoming Personal Adversity” was Theang Phally.

Lim Ey is an excellent noodle maker in Cambodia. But when you’re living in poverty it’s not easy to make a living from noodles. The equipment’s expensive, and you can’t afford good rice, the main ingredient for noodles. Ey built his own equipment, but he still had to borrow rice from grain merchants to produce enough noodles for a meagre income for his family, less than a dollar a day. For over 20 years he was stuck in a vicious cycle of debt, work, poverty and hunger. Local money-lenders took most of his surplus by charging between 10-20% per month in interest (120-240% annual interest!)

At 40 years old, with six children, Ey survived through sheer hard work. Then he applied for his first VisionFund loan just one year ago. He borrowed US$80 and bought a large supply of good quality rice, and....a pig! He fed the pig on the surplus noodle by-products; the pig grew and he sold it seven months later for US$120. He bought four more pigs.

Because of the good quality rice, his noodles were better quality, and sold fast. Instead of 100kg of noodles a day, he’s now producing up to 700kg a day and employing his relatives to help. He’s now earning US$6 a day, and only pays 3.5% monthly interest on his loan (42% annual interest). Best of all, he’s on the road to success and self-reliance and he doesn’t have to worry about his family’s survival.

In his own words: “For the first time in my life, my family can make choices. I can choose better quality rice. I can build my business as I choose. My children can choose a better future.”

To be part of VisionFund contact Rupert Ross on 0800 800 776 or email Rupert.Ross@worldvision.org.nz

It's not easy to start up your own business. Here in New Zealand we have a great infrastructure, accessible capital and business development loans, years of business tradition and a wide knowledge base. All these Mongolian entrepreneurs want is a chance to work their way out of poverty, and you can enable them.