Micro-credits for Baru Island young entrepreneurs

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 June 2014 we invited all the interested people in participating in the project (young entrepreneurs between 18 and 25 years old) to a meeting in our office in Santa Ana, Baru Island, in which we told them about the project and its terms and conditions.

2. 4 young entrepreneurs interested in the project, returned the completed forms, and provided the documents they were asked for. Only 2 had a positive report in the risk management centers.

3. They both (Ana and Juan), were trained in preparing their business plan.

4. On June 26 the Foundation team visited the candidate’s homes and businesses to verify the information provided.

5. On July 16, the second credit committee was held, in which 2 new credits were approved:

Beneficiary’s age     Business                               Credit (COP)     Term              Monthly fee

21                            Variety store                           $2.000.000        24 months       $101.012

25                            Snorkeling equipment rental     $1.000.000        12 months       $91.252

6. On July 18, the selected beneficiaries received the money of the credits approved and signed the commitment letter to observe the project’s rules.

7. The Foundation team has visited every month the 2 new beneficiaries. During those visits, we have verified that:

• Both of them invested the money according to their business plan.
• Their businesses have grown.
• They both have saved and reinvested in their businesses.
• It has been very important for them to have their families support.

8. They have received 4 advice visits in topics such us: basic accounting principles, inventory management, marketing and sales record.

9. Regarding one of our first beneficiaries (Victor), we are pleased to inform that he paid for the whole credit in order to apply to a bigger one, to buy a boat he needed for his business. After studying his request, the project committee decided to grant him a new credit for COP $5.000.000.

In the coming days we will continue to:

• Visit every month each of the beneficiaries to follow up, until they have paid the entire loan.
• Start the selection process to identify more young entrepreneurs interested in applying to the project.

Thanks to all of you, to your constant support, the project has really impacted our beneficiaries’ life.

For us in the Hernan Echavarria Foundation, it has been a great opportunity to learn from them. Their desire to succeed and to improve their quality of life, are an incentive for us to keep working.

We invite you to continue to work with us in order to achieve our total funding goal of $10,490.

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

With gratitude,

Ana Milena Ordosgoitia M. and the Hernan Echavarria Olozaga Foundation team

Links:

• The Hernan Echavarria Foundation website