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Haitian Micro-Credit Bank Unveils Strategic Goals for 2011
September 14, 2006
For Immediate Release
Contact:
John Mercier,Executive Director,
Fonkoze USA
941-921-5726
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Miami, FL— Fonkoze, Haiti’s Alternative Bank for the Poor, will more than triple the number of clients it serves in Haiti within the next five years. By 2011, 200,000 rural Haitians will have access to financial services, literacy, and business training through Fonkoze.
Nearly 100 representatives of non-profit organizations, religious communities, and the Haitian diaspora gathered to hear Fonkoze’s strategic plan for the next five years. The “Haiti Solidarity Conference” participants made commitments to help Fonkoze reach its goals for 2011 and shared their experiences working in Haiti at the Hilton Miami Airport from September 8-10.
Keynote speaker Sam Daley-Harris, Director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign, described the traditional banking rules that had to be changed in order for microfinance to exist. Fonkoze gives small loans that are used to start or expand businesses, starting as low as $30.
Daley-Harris spoke of this global revolution in banking, saying, “Imagine what this world would look like if these rules had never been broken, if no one anywhere had ever bothered to question the notion that the poor could not use or repay a small loan.” Fonkoze has a loan repayment rate of 98%.
In addition to expanding Fonkoze’s services to reach more of Haiti’s poor, Director Anne Hastings said the organization will work to lift 5,000 of Haiti’s extreme poor out of poverty by 2011 through a subsidized program. At the completion of the 13-month program, the participant will have a sustainable livelihood and have moved into a mainstream credit program.
Fonkoze, an acronym for Fondasyon Kole Zepòl, is Haiti’s largest micro-credit organization. Built on the principles of solidarity, Fonkoze, which translates as the shoulder-to-shoulder foundation, is working toward a Haiti free of extreme poverty and able to support democracy.