UOB Leadership Retreat February 2013...

Group Photo with some of the UOB leaders

Two nights and three days (February 22-24), UOB Leadership Retreat took place at Lake Kivu Serena.  This is the second year of this kind. Managers and higher ranking officers all joined except three who were sick. They totaled 33. It represented approximately one tenth of total number of staff working at UOB, including temporary staff of 60.

Leadership Retreat includes praise, worship, thanksgiving, testimonials, fellowship, team building and learning. Learning has a theme and this year it was "Lead Like Jesus."

I has the privilege of leading a 6-hour session on Lead Like Jesus, based on a book with the same title, authored by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges. According to them, a leader is anyone who influences the thinking, development, or actions of others, including parents, siblings, and friends, as well as coaches, congresspeople, and CEOs. In other words, at some time or other we all are called on to be leaders. Ken and Phil assert that the greatest leadership role model is Jesus as a servant leader.

Praise and Prayer

The workshop was a great blessing to us all. We all did Lead Like Jesus Readiness Exam and evaluated our leadership styles using the Evaluation Form and Action Planning Guide in the book. It is my prayer that all of us apply at least a few lessons that we learned to our daily life to be like Jesus in our leadership roles.

Also, we practiced team exercise with group discussion and presentation on the 2013 spiritual and management theme of "TRANSFORM." Nine teams worked on their assigned themes to respond to three questions: where are we? where do we need/want to go? and what do we need to do to get there? They all worked hard and well to come up with their presentations that were evaluated on the basis of substance, styles and sensitivity to time limits. These will be documented and shared with them all.

Team Presentation

Also, we all agreed to be more proactive in reaching out to other leaders to learn about what they are doing, rather than waiting for a training session put together, and to be available and responsive to such requests for mutual learning. It will help us form and develop a learning culture and learning community. May the Lord bless each and every one of us in realizing and accepting the leadership opportunities to be a privilege that may not be neglected or abused.



Of course, the foods and fellowship were priceless. - Jeffrey

Monetary Policy Meeting February 2013...

Rwanda's central bank is Rwanda National Bank or BNR in French. It holds monetary policy statement meeting twice a year. The first one takes place in February. I have been attending all of them for the past four years, including this past one.

Ambassador Claver Gatete is the current governor. He loves to carry the Ambassador title because like marines he claims that once an ambassador you are ambassador for ever. He was Rwanda's ambassador to the U.K. prior to his coming back to Rwanda. While he was in the U.K. Rwanda became a member of the Common Wealth Nations. So there is no longer ambassador but only high commissioner. He loves to use this title perhaps because there is no longer ambassador.

Ambassador Claver Gatete, the Governor

At any rate, he is a highly intellectual governor. Every time he is presenting, he does not lose the control of the flow of his presentation. He is a great communicator.

Not only his style is impressive but also Rwanda's economic growth and overall monetary policy have produced steady GDP growth (mid 7%), FX rates (2-4% devaluation a year) and inflation (mid 5-6%). This performance is exceptional. Moreover, all sectors in the financial services industry are showing positive signs. ePayment system continues to improve. He even mentioned the mVISA, VISA's mobile banking platform and ackowledged that Bank of Kigali and Urwego Opportunity Bank will first join this interoperable mobile banking solutions. Card solutions and branch network also continue to improve.

Governor and Vice Governor

Some people asked cynical questions, such as "So Rwanda has no challenges?" He aptly replied with a list of challenges that the BNR still has to manage, including regional uncertainty, global financial crisis, oil prices that can have significant impact on a small economy like Rwanda. .

Out of eight monetary policy statement meetings that I have attended so far, none has disappointed me so far.

May the stable and steady economic growth continue in Rwanda at least in the foreseeable future. - Jeffrey

Fish Farming, Cattle Breeding and Biogas...

Jean Baptiste by his fish farming pond

[Many micro businesses are retailers. It is typical. But there are exceptions. Jean Baptiste is one.

He is involved in farming Tilapia fish, breeding cows and donkeys in addition to running a retail store where he sells medicines for animals. Moreover, he is using biogas for his home and business. That is quite unique. 

The following is an article that Louise, who is a former banker and now a KIVA fellow working at UOB, put together after she visited Jean Baptiste with George Willaims, KIVA Coordinator for UOB in February 2013. - Jeffrey]

George asking questions

Jean Baptiste lives with his wife and children up on a hilltop in Gahengeri outside Nyamata. He is really a true entrepreneur. Jean Baptiste believes in working hard and has a strong passion for farming. He runs multiple businesses, such as tilapia fish farming, cattle breeding (cows and donkeys) and a store that sells medicine for animals. He is also very keen on green energy and understands the importance of recycling to preserve the environment.

Bio Gas is generated in this tank

All food for the cattle and fish is grown on his own land and the cow dung is used for his very own home-built biogas system, where 10 kgs of cow dung a day is enough to power his stove and all lamps in the house!

Jean Baptiste has used the UOB loan to invest in expanding his farm, but also to obtain insurance for his cows. They are high-breed Friesian cows worth 800,000 Rwandan francs ($1,100 equivalent) each and Jean Baptise has five. These loans, thus, have been vital to his continued success as an entrepreneur. His dream is to expand his farm further to include pigs and chickens. 

“I love farming” he says. “I work hard and never stop. There are always more opportunities out there and thanks to the UOB loan I have been able to pursue my ambitions”.  

- Louise

Triple Jump Covers UOB's mBanking...

[This article is from Triple Jump's January 2013 News Letter. Triple Jump an investment fund that specializes in providing financial support for the MFI industry in developing countries. Triple Jump also has an Advisory Services arm and it has provided UOB with technical advisory assistance in UOB's mBanking project.]

Triple Jump news - Thursday, January 24, 2013

Advisory Services helps Urwego Opportunity Bank in Rwanda

JANUARY 2013 - Triple Jump Advisory Services provided technical assistance to Urwego Opportunity Bank (UOB) in Rwanda from mid-2012 through January 2013 to help them launch a mobile banking channel in partnership with Visa.

UOB's new service, branded mHose ("Hose" means "everywhere" in Kinyarwanda), allows UOB's customers to make loan payments, deposit savings, earn insurance coverage and check account balances on their mobile phones. UOB formed a partnership with Visa so they can leverage the mobile money payments platform offered by Visa in Rwanda, branded as mVisa. UOB piloted the system with two groups of loan clients for six months, which provided valuable findings for the rollout.

The mVisa system also allows UOB's customers to perform a wide array of other mobile wallet offerings such as sending money to others using mVisa, paying bills and other transactions. For a microfinance bank like UOB with 45,000 loan clients, 150,000 clients in total, and a countrywide presence, their objectives in launching this mobile banking service include increasing outreach, allowing customers to transact at lower costs and more efficiently, and reducing operating costs. And UOB is well placed to achieve these goals – with the support of Triple Jump Advisory Services, they have redesigned their business procedures and processes to incorporate the mobile banking channel; reconfigured and reinforced their IT infrastructure; hired new staff to manage the channel, the Agent network and customer service; and taken care of other details required to launch and manage an M-banking channel.

Additionally, Triple Jump Advisory Services helped UOB develop their own Agent network, which allows UOB's customers to cash in and cash out from their mHose account. We did all the work required to create, launch and successfully manage a mobile banking Agent network. For example, we designed the Agent network structure, analysed the business model for the channel to determine optimal agent commissions and customer fee pricing, and selected an Agent network manager and the businesses that could act as agents, as well as other related Agent network tasks. Despite the existence of MTN MobileMoney and, more recently TigoCash, continuing to find qualified and reputable businesses that can act as agents, especially in rural areas in UOB's operational zone, remains a challenge.

To support the needs of customers and agents, we helped UOB create a Customer Service department. Our business consulting team also designed a full training program that included a ‘train-the-trainers' element to ensure that UOB had their own internal trainers capable of successfully training employees and staff for the launch and for the lifetime of the channel. Ensuring staff members are comfortable and confident with the system is key to fully supporting end customers, since customers often go to loan officers with questions or concerns about the system.

On the technical side of the project, after we drew up the business requirements document, our technical consultants created the functional specifications for the system. They primarily focused on working with the Visa team to integrate UOB's core banking system (eMerge) with Visa's mobile money system (VMMS), and the installation and configuration of UOB's new SMS alert system. After developing and integrating the required functionalities in the test environment, the TJAS consultants performed various user acceptance tests and modifications and trained UOB's IT staff. A go-live release was prepared and installed and full support was provided to UOB to ensure the success of the go-live.

What is very promising about this new service is that it is based on an interoperable business concept and system. In this sense, UOB customers can use any mVisa agent in the network and are not restricted to only using UOB agents. Other financial institutions thatr are partnered with mVisa will also provide agents, thereby increasing the number of agent outlets in which customers can transact. Another promising feature of this service is a new product that UOB is offering exclusively for this channel; micro-insurance. Partnered with MicroEnsure, UOB offers customers the opportunity to earn life insurance for themselves and their family members based on the balance in their mHose accounts. They are notified of coverage via SMS, a simple and transparent way for customers to learn about and earn this important insurance coverage.

Having piloted the system and effectively prepared the organisation, the personnel, the Agent network, the market and their technical infrastructure, UOB is well positioned to provide real benefits to customers using this channel as well as streamline their banking services. UOB is launching the service in three different regions of Rwanda and will continue the rollout in various geographic stages during 2013.

Carol Caruso, Director, Triple Jump Advisory Services

Ministry Updates - January 2013

The year 2013 has opened with apparent growth in environmental challenges. Due mainly to DR Congo's domestic conflict and UN Report's allegation that Rwandan government is supporting M23 rebels, foreign development aids have been reduced or received a lot more slowly than projected. This has caused the government to cut back its budgets, thus creating lower construction projects leading to lower income and thus lower purchasing power. Lower purchasing power has been resulting in reduced demand for loans, increased withdrawals of savings, slower collection of loan repayments and rising portfolio at risk ratio. 

Clients meeting at UOB Office

Moreover, a significant portion of liquidity has dried up mainly because Rwanda's largest institutional investor, RSSB or Rwanda Social Security Board, pulled significant amounts of term deposits out of commercial banks to buy treasury notes issued by the central bank (BNR) to support the government spending that would have been funded by foreign development aids which have been reduced or cut. This liquidity crunch in the market has put many banks to stop their lending during the fourth quarter. This has worsened in January 2013, combined with slow seasonality in January. So it is a tough time in Rwanda.

Nonetheless, we have reasons to praise the good Lord on many fronts. The following are highlights:

UOB Day Group Photo

1. UOB held its UOB Day in January. We praised God and shared the blessings we received in 2012 and also the plan we have established for 2013. We have chosen TRANSFORM as the spiritual and management theme for 2013 based on Romans 12:1,2. This was shared with all staff. We will put transformation first in what we do in 2013 and we plan to return to basics by enforcing standardized practices for conducting meetings and HLI teachings.  

2. Secondary Student Loan (tuition fee loan) was pilot-launched in January. Approximately 27 clients in 7 groups received this loan with terms and conditions that are better than group loans. It will be scaled up to all clients in April.

3. UOB hired Agricultural Finance Manager and EduFinance Manager who started working on January 2nd. 

With these two managers on board, UOB will be able to scale up these two important products to help Rwandans advance their agricultural activities and education for children, respectively. 

4. Opportunity International IT Conference was held in Kigali, Rwanda for three days. This conference painted its future strategies towards more collaborative shared services and the upgrade of the core banking application, T24 to R10 model bank. UOB was honored to host this conference and show the delegates how UOB has well maintained its IT infrastructure.

UOB Day Banner "TRANSFORM"

5. UOB has signed an MOU with USAID dairy project for Rwanda to help 60,000 plus dairy farmers to access financial services better. This 24 month project will help UOB develop, design and implement dairy loan and savings product. Also, UOB joined Womens World Banking in a proposal to Access to Finance Rwanda to develop a women youth savings product. Moreover, UOB worked with OI US in submitting a proposal to Visa International for an innovative delivery channel.

6. UOB finally deployed all 100 NetBook computers to its relationship staff in the fied. These NetBook computers are equipped with Enterprise Open Sky platform that enables our staff to access the system from the field real time. This would enhance the operational efficiency and productivity significantly. 

7. UOB held its quarterly prudential meeting with the central bank, BNR, for its fourth quarter 2012 performance. As expected, the meeting went very well and we maintained a favorable rating.

8. As a continuing measure of providing affordable pricing for our clients, UOB lowered its group lending rates by 0.5% per month in January. This measure has been taken again after it lowered the group lending rates by 0.5% per month in February 2012. We praise the Lord who has enabled us to do this based on continuing operational sustainability.

9. English bible distribution continued with six thousand bibles now have been distributed. They have been distributed not only to UOB clients but also almost 100 pastors who will produce greater impact because their influence over their congregation members. A final report should be made in February.

Gicumbi Nursery under construction

10. Gicumbi Nursery project is progressing well. Foundations were completed about three weeks ago and now walls are rising, taking shape of the building. The external construction works are expected to be completed in two months after which furnishings and interior construction will continue. We expect to finish all required work and start the operation in four months. We are grateful for all the support we have received from the friends and supporters for this project.

11. We received many visitors in January. They included Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade who has come to visit with the Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Retired Pastor Mark Kim and his wife Dr. Kim who plan to come to serve Rwanda next year despite their ages being at 75 and 73, Tom Phillips, the long time friend and supporter of many ministry works in Rwanda, Johns Hopkins University Global MBA students who worked on a project for UOB. 

 

12. We continued to fellowship with Korean missionaries through a monthly prayer meeting. Jeffrey continued ministering to Agape Korean church, UOB staff and Shalom Bible Study through preaching and teaching of the Word. It is great joy to participate in these Word ministries on top of living the Word in deeds.

13. We have the following prayer requests:

• Please pray that various external factors adversely affecting Rwanda may get resolved sooner rather than later so that Rwanda's transformation may continue to be an exemplary case for a developing country.
• Jeffrey's father has now been confirmed to have Alzheimer's disease. Please pray that this disease may progress slowly and that he may live the last days of his life on earth in peace with the hope for the life to come. Kristin's mom has started losing her consciousness in a nursing home. May God grant her the peace of Christ through the last days of her life also.
• UOB has continued debugging its mobile and agent banking platform, mHose, in January. Now it is very close to get ready for the commercial launch in February. Please join us in prayer for this project to progress for launch.
• UOB is still waiting to hear from IFC on the implementation plan for its approved grant support for UOB's agent network development. Also, UOB has launched its Innovation for Education program with the support from DFID Rwanda. Please pray that the implementation plans for these programs may gain traction for timely launch and implementation.
• Please pray that UOB's initiative to put "Transformation" first in 2013 may also gain buy-in and support from all staff so that UOB may advance His Kingdom further through these initiatives. 

Significant challenges that we face now keep us humble to go on our knees to the Lord. These challenges also remind us that we should always put our trust in the Lord no matter what the circumstances are. We are deeply grateful for you all for standing with us with your prayer and support. May the Lord bless you, keep you and make His face shine upon you and your family!

Jeffrey and Kristin Lee from RWANDA

Korean Missionaries in Rwanda and UOB...

Some of Korean Missionaries recently after fellowship lunch

There are 11 families of Korean missionaries, including a Korean American couple (us). They all are involved in the mission work they have been called to. Some plant churches and build nurseries. Others teach and train local pastors and preach on radio. Others help local churches through the Word and assistance for whatever the needs are. Others also get involved in providing health care. Others are doing development work, such as farming, planting trees or running quality nursery. Others teach children. They all play important roles in helping advance God's Kingdom on earth through their ministries and mission works.

Korean missionaries gather together once a month for prayer and fellowship. Through these fellowship gatherings, they pray for each other and encourage each other. Also some of them help the one and only Korean church in Rwanda, namely Agape Korean Church, through preaching and teaching children.

I am involved in holistic Christian microfinance through UOB and Kristin is involved in providing health care services and assistance in Christian education for young children. It is a development work with a mission for holistic transformation of the people we serve. Currently Kristin is involved in building a Christian nursery in Gicumbi. (Refer to the previous blog post.) Let me focus on UOB for now.

After one of the monthly fellowship gatherings

UOB is the first and largest micro finance bank in Rwanda. Its origin dates back to 1997 when World Relief started a micro finance as a post-genocide relief work. It became an independent entity in 2004 and merged with Opportunity International Bank of Rwanda in 2007 to become Urwego Opportunity Bank. It now serves more than 160,000 clients, the second largest institution in terms of the number of clients being served, in Rwanda, through 44 business offices operating in all 30 districts of Rwanda.

UOB is registered as a for-profit business entity, but profit is not the goal, but a means to be sustainable. Shareholders are international Christian NGOs that are not interested in financial return, but in holistic transformation of the people of Rwanda. So when profit increases, UOB finds a way to lower the interest rate charged to its clients or to go deeper into the under-served markets to serve those who have little or no access to financial services.

In fact, UOB has lowered its interest rates twice for the past one year because it has been profitable for the past two years. It has been God's grace that enabled us to do so. Since the pricing cannot be lowered too much to the subsidized level, UOB is seeking to go deeper to serve the under-served markets.

Along with providing financial services, UOB is providing its clients with the gospel and biblical lessons to life situations. UOB calls it Holistic Life Improvement modules or HLI. HLI has 60 lessons that help UOB clients learn to manage their business, their household finance and their health, all based on biblical scriptures and principles. UOB also distributes bibles. Two years ago, UOB distributed 6,000 local language bibles and in 2012/2013 UOB is distributing 7,000 English bibles to its clients. UOB is now thinking of engaging with local churches to share the evangelistic materials with them for their church congregation members. UOB staff goes through Process/Service Fit Tests by individual business units to make sure we are living up to the vision, mission and core values that we proclaim to stand for. We need to be transformed first to be transformative to others.

UOB's Home Office in Kigali

Thus, it is a holistic mission work. So I call UOB a Business As Mission or BAM, a business that itself is a mission of bringing the gospel to the underprivileged people of Rwanda holistically addressing all aspects of their lives. We have been privileged to be part of this mission work for the past full four years. They are 1,460 days and counting.

We wonder what God has in store for us in the next chapter. We pray for His enlightening guidance and we trust He will show us His way. In His time. - Jeffrey

Gicumbi Nursery Report #2

Nursery Under Contruction

Gicumbi Nursery construction is progressing well.

The church congregation members flattened the sloped land. (Photos below) The way the work was done was impressive. The pastor Innocent and several church members were proud of their work. This work was done approximately three weeks ago.

After the construction budget was established, the foundation work began. The pastor supervised the construction work himself. Apparently, he studied construction management skills for four years at his secondary school. On average, he is hiring 20-30 people, including skilled workers and helpers. Most of the helpers are believed to be the church members. So this construction project is helping the church members in their income also. Moreover, some non-church members begin to attend the church after this type of work. So it is also an evangelical opportunity! Praise the Lord!

They dug up the dirt and laid gravels and rocks to strengthen the foundation and put concrete and metal beams to frame the columns. We found the foundation work completed when we visited on January 17th.

We made the fifth visit on January 24th and found the building start taking shape with the brick walls rising. In Rwanda people tend to think leaving bare brick walls is not a good idea. So they put additional cement on top of brick walls. This is not only costly but also hazardous to health, particularly children. We made it clear that the brick walls will be left uncovered. So the brick wall quality is kept pretty clean. I suspect that the idea may have come from contractors for their commercial motive. Brick walls look just beautiful to me as you can find in the photos below.

Church members working

In the next two weeks or so, all brick-laying work is scheduled to complete. Then, the roofing work will begin. The frame for roofing will be done with wooden materials. The pastor has already secured a bunch of trees on the land right across from the Nursery construction site. So that he could save the transportation cost. Clever!

I felt grateful for the way the construction has been progressing. A friend of mine, who is a missionary from Korea and has done many construction projects was pleasantly surprised at the pace and quality of the work that is being done. We praise the Lord who has been exceedingly gracious to us on this project. We prayed for the pastor and the workers before we left. We plan to visit again next week.

Flattened ground

Flattened ground

The remaining work includes roofing, doors and windows, plumbing work, electrical work, furnishing and securing supplies. Up these works are hardware works. The real challenge is to get the operational and administrative work to be done. So it still is a long way to go.

Foundation corner

Foundation work done

Building under contruction

People carrying materials

Thank you for standing with us in this project through your support and prayer. May God bless you richly! - Kristin

[This article has been copied from Opportunity International's Blog. For more articles, please click below]

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The Power of Technology to Eradicate Poverty

By Opportunity International on January 18, 2013

Technology efficiently and cheaply brings financial services to people in remote or rural areas. It breaks through barriers throughout the developing world, where people are excluded from financial services because of illiteracy, expensive transportation and geographic isolation. With the support of our strategic partners, individual donors and dedicated staff, Opportunity International leverages technology to help free people from the cycle of poverty.

A typical cell phone used for banking

We utilize cell phone banking, satellite bank branches, ATMs and point-of-sale (POS) devices provide low-cost, secure banking to formerly excluded clients. We are establishing points of access within one kilometer (about two miles) of a client’s home or business. We are migrating to cloud-based systems and developing of a new generation of skilled IT leaders to continue these innovations.

The Power of Technology

Marie-Claire Ina opens an account in Kinshasa, DR Congo

Marie-Claire Ina (left) opens abiometric-based account atOpportunity International’s bank in Democratic Republic of Congo. With support from theUN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), this is one of only a few places in the developing world offering this powerful technology. It requires only a fingerprint-embedded ID card to access an account. Even those who are illiterate or lack formal identification have control over their finances and a recognition many have never known.

Annie Nyangomba at Opportunity DR Congo

Annie Nyangomba (right) holds out her finger to be read. She also is opening an account at the Kinshasa branch of Opportunity DR Congo. Annie says she was reluctant to open a bank account before because she thought it would be too expensive. But now that she has the structure of a bank account, she feels more secure and recognized. “Now I get more respect,”Annie tells us, “and I hope to see my social life change. I feel more secure for the future of my children.”

Gaining Access: Cell Phone Banking

Felicitus Mmboge in her Nairobi, Kenya shop

In Nairobi, Kenya, Felicitus Mmboge (left) uses her cell phone to save and transfer money, pay for goods, and accept payments in her beauty products business. She even receives and repays her Opportunity loans with her cell phone. Cell phone banking allows her to make these transactions without having to shutter her shop to visit a bank branch, saving her travel expenses and lost income.

Financial tools like cell phone banking, satellite bank branches, ATMs and point-of-sale devices strengthen communities. They increase security and keep Opportunity International’s clients close to their homes and businesses. Whether in rural villages or sprawling city markets, our clients have safe, affordable, reliable and convenient access to their accounts so they can keep their businesses open and avoid costly travel to the bank.

Invest in Opportunity’s technology solutions »

Opportunity International IT Conference in Kigali

Opportunity International (OI) IT Conference took place in Kigali, Rwanda, for three days, January 16-18th, 2013. It was the first time that Kigali hosted the conference.

Kigali has been chosen as the conference site because UOB has been known to have established an exemplary IT infrastructure and has launched several IT-enabled initiatives, such as mobile branch, Open Sky communication platform, card solutions (UOB Grace Cards) and an innovative mobile banking platform, called mHose, in cooperation with mVISA.

A total of 26 delegates came from countries like, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Malawi, Ghana, Mozambique, DR Congo, Serbia, Romania, Colombia, Mexico, UK, USA and Bulgaria. Several key IT vendors also participated to discuss about the IT strategies that will affect Opportunity International's future

UOB's Mobile Branch

business strategies.

I had a separate meeting with OI GMO's Chief Information Officer, Robert, and Rosa who has newly joined OI recently as Director of Mobile Banking.

I also shared the Word briefly when I was welcoming them to Rwanda, the Land of Thousand Hills and Million Smiles. The Word was faith in action based on James 1:27 and James 2:22.

After the conference on Friday, we arranged for a quick city tour, including the visit to Genocide Memorial. We also provided a small gift of Rwandan peace basket sets. They all appreciated the Rwandan and UOB hospitality. May the IT strategy will provide operational effectiveness and efficiency for the implementing members to further their efforts. - Jeffrey

Student Tuition Fee Loan Launched...

These children want to go to school

UOB has been developing several loan products related to education. They are called EduFinance all together.

In 2012, we introduced Christian private school development and vocational school tuition fee loan. Also we were developing tuition fee loan for secondary students to be provided for loyal group clients. Finally, this product has been launched. It is still a pilot launch with only seven groups in three EBUs because we are still learning about issues we may face in the implementation process.

Secondary Student Loan or SSL has been developed in cooperation with Merry Year International in S. Korea. It is a Christian international development foundation. MYI has sent us an intern, Sungeun Choi, who has been working actively to develop this product. This product has been designed to help parents who cannot afford to make payment for the tuition fee upfront.  They are allowed to make payment in installments. Because of this affordability challenge for lump sum money, many teenagers, particularly girls, stay home doing house choirs or helping their parents in farming or running a micro business. It is our desire to see our SSL help increase their school attendance rate.

It is being offered to existing group clients who have good payment records. It is a reward program for loyal clients with satisfactory payment records because its interest rate is lower than business loans, it does not require any processing fee and it is waived from micro insurance requirement.

Once we refine the process, it will be scaled up to all EBUs for all group clients in April when the next school term begins. We may also consider expanding the program to primary school students unless we face different challenges. May this program prove to be helpful to the parents and students. - Jeffrey