FINCA Canada to provide loans to Haitian women

Microfinance Focus, Nov. 16, 2009: FINCA Canada is to provide microfinance loans to haitian women, said Toronto philanthropist Mike Green, who brought FINCA to Canada with the help of his wife Jacquie Green, and the support of Toronto philanthropist Linda Wolfond.

“Having visited FINCA programs in Uganda and Guatemala, I have witnessed firsthand, the power of providing hard-working women with a small loan that can change their lives,” said Mike Green. “The beauty of FINCA’s methodology is that when someone makes a donation, it stays in the FINCA system forever. Every time a loan is repaid, that money is lent to another woman, and on and on it goes, until entire communities are improved.”

Through ongoing public outreach and fundraising events, FINCA Canada will build awareness about FINCA’s microfinance programs in 21 countries of Africa, Eurasia, the Greater Middle East and Latin America, with the goal of generating support for FINCA’s Village Banking programs, said a statement.
FINCA pioneered the Village Banking methodology in the mid 1980s, through which a group of 10 to 30 neighbors—usually women—come together to guarantee one another’s loans, administer group lending and saving activities, and provide mutual support.
FINCA International President and CEO Rupert Scofield said the opening of FINCA Canada provides Canadians an opportunity to directly help some of the world’s poor people.
FINCA Canada’s launch fundraising event, which featured a live art auction and a silent auction along with musical entertainment, was held at Wychwood Barns, Toronto, on November 10. All proceeds from the event were donated as loan capital to the FINCA Haiti Village Banking program.

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