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Remittances for Business
Set to continue until mid-August, the program takes place through a series of two-day seminars in each branch (although three were held in alternate locations to accommodate more people), presented by the well-known Haitian economist and professor Kesner Pharel. The meetings consist of financial literacy training, or teaching participants financial concepts and behaviors to improve their current habits. They learn about the advantages of budgeting their cash flows in both their personal lives and their business activities.
Fonkoze has also partnered with other Haitian organizations in order to offer various business models that participants who aspire to become financially independent can replicate. These organizations range from Eneji Pwop, a clean energy company that acts as a vendor for small merchants of solar energy projects, to Digicel, one of Haiti’s most important telecommunications companies, which offers both a mobile banking model (TchoTchoMobile) and a phone credit model (Pappadap) to help small entrepreneurs diversify their products.
All of the models require a small entry fee, facilitating participation in an economic activity – the first step towards financial independence, which can only be attained through employment and entrepreneurship.
For members of the Haitian Diaspora, this project is important because it allows them to send money that will be invested in the Haitian economy. In this way, the project furthers Fonkoze’s mission of laying the foundation for economic democracy in Haiti.