Micro-credits for Baru Island young entrepreneurs

Dear Donors,

Happy new year! Our best wishes for a very successful 2014!

We would like to start by thanking you again for your generous donations to the project "Micro - credits for Baru Island young entrepreneurs" on 2013, with which you are partering with us to work towards improving quality of life of Colombian vulnerable people. We invite you in this new year to continue to work with us.

The following is a brief summary of the progress of the project, you have supported:

1. After the first 3 meetings we had with young entrepreneurs of the 3 towns located in the Island (Ararca, Santa Ana and Baru), we had to do another one with more young people living in Santa Ana, interested in the project, as they asked us for.

2. After the deadline, 52 young entrepreneurs interested in the project, returned the completed forms, and provided the documents they were asked for.

Of those 52 people, 12 had between 18 and 25 years old and 8 out of the 12 mentioned before, had a positive report in the risk management centers.

3. The 8 young entrepreneurs preselected (3 from Santa Ana and 5 from Barú), were trained in preparing their businesss plans.

4. On November 16 the team visited the candidates´s homes and businesses to verify the information provided.

5. On December 12, the first credit committee was held, in which 4 credits were approved:

Beneficiary´s Age         Business                               Credit (COP)         Term          Monthly fee (COP)

23                                Seafood sales                         $ 2.500.000            24               $ 126.265

22                                Fish sales and water sports      $ 1.800.000            24               $ 90.911

22                                Fast food sales                        $ 1.000.000           18               $ 64.379

19                                Liquor and soft drink sales        $ 2.000.000            24               $ 101.012

6. On December 13, the selected beneficiaries recieved the money of the credits approved and signed a commitment letter, in which they commited to observe the project´s rules.

7. On December 19, the team visited the credit beneficiaries to verify they had invested the money according to what they stablished in their businesses plans and in the credit committee, finding out that they all invested it properly: They invested in a freezer, in fish and seefood, in a surfboard, in a fast food cart and in working capital, among others.

In the coming days we will continue to:

• Provide administrative advise to the beneficiaries according to each of their businesses needs (5 sessions).
• Visit every month each of the beneficiaries, to follow up, until they have paid the entire loan.
• Start the selecction process to identify more young etrepreneurs interested in applying to the project, in order to grant new credits with the $1.657.962,98 COP we have left from the resources initially raised, until the current beneficiaries pay back and we can continue to provide loans to support new young people of the Island interested in micro - credits to improve their businesses.

We will continue to post regular reports to keep you informed on the project progress.

With gratitude,

Ana Milena Ordosgoitia M. and the Hernán Echavarría Olózaga Foundation team

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Dear Donors,

First of all, we would like to thank you again for your generous donations to the project "Micro - credits for Baru Island young entrepreneurs". 

The following is a brief summary of the progress of the project, you have supported:

1. On Friday, October 4, we received the resources initially raised: 11.964.409 Colombian Pesos.

2. On October 24, after searching for an entity with great experience in managing micro - credit with low-income people in Cartagena, we partnered with Fundación Indufrial.

3. On October 31st we had 3 meetings with young entrepreneurs of the 3 towns located in the Island (Ararca, Santa Ana and Baru) interested in participating in the project.

During the meetings, we talked to them about several topics: a) The resources raised through the Give for Youth and Global Giving's platforms, b) the Hernan Echavarria Foundation and our partnership with Indufrial Foundation, c) the project, d) the project conditions, and e) the project schedule.

 64 young entrepreneurs assisted and showed interest in participating in the project, by taking with them the forms to fill them.

The deadline to return the completed forms is November 1.  

In the coming days we will review the information provided and check if any of the interested are reported in a risk management center.

Those who are not, will be called for the first training on November 4, on how to develop a business plan.

We will continue to post regular reports to keep you informed on the project progress.

With gratitude,

Ana Milena Ordosgoitia

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