Empower Entrepreneurs Throughout Colombia

Proposed Project to Establish Savings & Loans Groups in Bogotá

Opportunity aims to launch Savings & Loans Groups in Bogota, focusing specifically on reaching and serving displaced families and victims. Activities over the next two years include:

1. Group Formation: Opportunity will meet with local community members and help them form groups of 10-15 members. Usually, groups are made up of neighbors who already know and trust each other. Groups are provided with a lock box and choose leaders to manage the group’s fund. Over two years, Opportunity aims to form a total of 40 groups, reaching 520 total families.
2. Training: Every other week for eight months, groups will meet to receive training to build their skills and confidence in managing finances, as well as in strengthening interpersonal relationships. Members will also receive ongoing support and guidance in rebuilding their lives after conflict. Over time, group members learn how to effectively manage and participate in their savings group, how to invest savings in the group to earn dividends at the end of the savings cycle, and how to continue growing their income after the saving cycle concludes.
3. Lending: During the first six weeks after groups are established, members will contribute “shares” (usually increments of $2 or $3) to the group’s collective fund. After six weeks, the group will use the fund to make informal loans to individual group members and sets an agreed-upon interest rate and repayment periods.
4. Earning: As loans are repaid with interest, the group’s total fund grows. After eight months, the group concludes its cycle and distributes the bigger fund among its members according to how many “shares” each member had invested in the fund.
5. Recycling: With their increased savings, members can choose to start a new Savings & Loans cycle with their group, repeating the process to continue earning interest from their savings. Groups may also invite new members to help more of their neighbors leverage their savings to earn income. Other members, with improved financial skills and larger savings, may choose to open their first bank account with a financial institution, continuing their journeys toward economic empowerment.

Families throughout Bogota are dreaming of a better future for their children–and need your support to start their journeys out of poverty. With a gift to Opportunity Colombia, you can help launch this important project, and equip families displaced by violence with the tools they need to grow their incomes, send their children to school and transform their futures. Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of this request!

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