Millions For FINCA

Hello Everyone;

While Kristin and I were in Uganda James arranged for us to go see the bank and meet a client in Jinja where FINCA Uganda originated seventeen years ago.

Before I introduce the amazing client we met, I wanted to explain the FINCA Uganda banks for a moment. The FINCA Uganda banks were the first we have seen to operate as regular banks as well as loan establishments. This allows FINCA Uganda to offer a place were even non-FINCA clients can use the bank to cash checks and send money to family members. The best advantage of this in my mind is that FINCA has more exposure as a financial institution in Uganda; thus allowing the loan client base to grow and the poverty level to shrink.

Way to go FINCA Uganda!!!

After we visited Jinja’s bank we went seeking clients. We drove out to meet one of the first FINCA Uganda clients.

When she started with FINCA she was struggling to put food on the table and feed her children. Her first loans from FINCA allowed her to develop an animal husbandry business. Today she still continues the animal husbandry business but she spends most of her time with her lucrative salt fish export business. She buys the fish from the fisherman, salt-drys the fish, and then crates and exports the fish into the DRC.

Because of her determination and FINCA she has been able to send her children to school, exponentially improve her and her family’s quality of life, and employ around twenty people.

Take that poverty!!!

Hello Everyone;

There is so much to tell and talk about since FINCA’s 25 Anniversary Gala.

Kristin and I had the wonderful pleasure of going to Uganda, in January, to visit one of the FINCA Board of Directors – James Semakadde. James, in addition to devoting his time and energies to FINCA, is dedicated to empowering Uganda’s youth and enterprise. One way James is making a difference in Uganda is through a culinary and tourism school Entebbe School of Culinary Arts and Tourism (ESCAT) that he and his wife started. As Kristin has a culinary degree and we have both worked in food service James asked us to come with some fresh ideas for the school.

While we were there James took us to Kampala to visit some of the FINCA banks and clients. Kristin and I both jumped at the opportunity to see the banks and meet some of the FINCA Uganda clients.

We met a FINCA client that sold used clothing that she bought in bundles and sold in one of the larger market centers in Kampala. She had been with FINCA for years and due to her FINCA loans she was able to buy a house, send her children to school, and hire an employee.

We also met a new FINCA client that had was only two months into his loan. He sold bulk and bagged grains such as millet and cassava.

Both of these clients used their FINCA loans to buy more product so that they could sell more and make a better living and improve their quality of life.

It was truly great to walk inside James’s favorite childhood market and meet people that were able to take action and change their quality of life because of FINCA.