Archive for Zimbabwe

November 7, 2015 by SKIC | No Comments

At SKIC, Community is Everything

SKIC has been a community-minded organization since day one. But now, more than ever, the organization is seeing the importance of maintaining and stimulating communities in both of its operating sites – Lebu, Chile and Mutare, Zimbabwe.

LEBU, CHILE | Lebu is a rather isolated city, with a static population. It relies heavily upon people-to-people connections – for it’s economy, and for morale.

Several years ago, Lebu was very much impacted by a huge earthquake. Many local institutions collapsed and the town became much more physically isolated. Lebuanos were forced to look inward and found that they could only count on their neighbors, not Santiago, Chile’s capital.

MUTARE, ZIMBABWE | Zimbabwe has been experiencing increasing economic hardship over the past 2 years, with no financial liquidity. In this economic landscape, there is a lot of room for depressed morale. SKIC’s response to this has been to downsize their SKIMFI participation, scaling from 200 beneficiaries, to 20. This scale shift has enabled SKIMFI project managers to focus their energies more specifically, and for the 20 women who are a part of the program to really band together.

SKI Charities Founder, Shyam comments on SKIMFI’s downsize, “We get obsessed in life with numbers. But it dilutes the focus and the impact. Eventually we want to reach 200 participants again, but we are really impacting people at a crucial time right now by scaling back. We are actually impacting far more people than we were before, despite numbers being lower. ”

TIRUA, CHILE: SKIC’s Latest Location | Recently, the organization extended its reach to Tirua, Chile – another relationship-oriented location.

Beneficiaries in Tirua regularly participate in group meetings to compare notes and support each other’s endeavors. Different community and government leaders conduct lectures regarding accounting, and how to set up a more formal business. These meetings give women a sense of camaraderie and the sense that there is the ability to continue their entrepreneurial pursuits outside of SKIC based on the networks they’ve created for themselves. It’s comforting for them to know that once they have completed the SKIC program, their lives can continue comfortably and that they have a set of skills and resources to keep a certain momentum behind their businesses.

Across all SKIC programs, there is little room for competition – the beneficiary experience is largely collaborative.

Community is a fundamental part of how SKIMFI participants vend their products. With a moderately stagnant economy, community becomes essential to liquidation. One of the main goals of SKIC is to foster community and collaboration between beneficiaries. Income is a short-term reward for beneficiaries, but it doesn’t match the long-term impact of building trusted networks that extend into other parts of life. “SKIC beneficiaries know they have sisters to count on when time gets tough, or even when things are going well and they have to contemplate the next step for growth,” Shyam says. “Community is everything to our organization.”

Categories : Company Organization, SKICharities Tags : Chile, community, Zimbabwe

August 6, 2014 by SKIC | No Comments

Empowering Transformational Female Leaders

In a previous post, “Why Focus on Women?,” we discuss the importance of SKI Charities’ focus on empowering female entrepreneurs and providing education for young women. In the traditional communities of developing countries like Zimbabwe and Chile, where SKIC works, already-marginalized women are often made powerless by circumstances of conflict and unrest, with men historically and culturally standing as the heads of households. To counter these unfortunate standards, the SKIC team directs its efforts toward women to level the playing field and to tap into the entrepreneurial spirit and leadership potential that we believe all women possess.

Mrs. Annia of Mutare used her SKImfi microloan to begin, and expand, a vegetable business.

Our world needs more female leadership – and not just because women are currently underrepresented in formal and informal leadership positions worldwide. Unlike men, who tend to have a transactional leadership style, marked by incentivizing good performance and maintaining order and flow in a workplace setting, women tend to be transformational leaders. According to Alice H. Eagley’s New York Times article “Hybrid Style Works, and Women are Best at It,” a transformational leader “acts as an inspirational role model, motivates others to go beyond the confines of their job descriptions, encourages creativity and innovation, fosters good human relationships, and develops the skills of followers.” This leadership style has shown to be most effective in modern workplaces.

The interpersonal relationships and motivational attitude that transformational leaders bring to their environments are ideal for fostering economic and social growth, and for multiplying the efforts of SKI Charities. With each transformational leader we empower, we hope to send a ripple effect through countries, so that countless more women emerge as leaders, driven to transform their communities and workplaces.

Categories : SKICharities, SKImfi Tags : community, education, empower women, Harare, microfinance, philanthropy, SKImfi, women, Zimbabwe

July 9, 2014 by SKIC | No Comments

Africa’s Mobile Technology Rise

The technology that has long provided convenience in most daily lives is now transforming opportunities available to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Mobile technology in Zimbabwe has risen to more than 71 percent, supplementing the work of SKImfi and allowing women in Zimbabwe to expand, organize, and promote their entrepreneurial efforts.

A SKImfi entrepreneur completes the loan process.

Mobile technology in Africa has created a major boon in business in recent years, and has a particular impact on women working with organizations like SKI Microfinance Institute. Mobile banking applications strengthen solidarity lending. They allow women to reinvest their earnings, move money between one another with ease, and distribute funds to their families in rural areas. A 2011 case study on Zimbabwe by Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA) cited a 41 percent increase in opportunities for women to generate income and an 81 percent increase in women’s independence when they can access mobile phones.

The distances that technology allows us to traverse give women the opportunity to build the best possible businesses. Instead of solely relying on local suppliers, SKImifi entrepreneurs can explore vendor options outside their immediate circle and find quality products in more distant locations. This flexibility expands the types of businesses women choose to start and extends the circle of microfinance engagement to other types of vendors. The connections made possible by mobile technology improve both the work lives and the personal lives of women; 93 percent of women in the GSMA study reported feeling more connected to family and friends since owning a mobile device.

They are better able to organize staff, manage their finances, and communicate without restriction to create efficient, lucrative businesses. Access to mobile tools allows SKImifi entrepreneurs to reach their potential as leaders.

Categories : SKImfi Tags : community, empower women, microfinance, philanthropy, solidarity lending, Zimbabwe

June 8, 2014 by SKIC | No Comments

Faces of SKImfi: Prudence K.

When Prudence and her SKImfi group members gather for business meetings, they begin each session with a chant: “High high, it lifts you high. SKImfi lifts you UP!” Prudence K., a 30-year-old mother of three, launched an electrical supplies business after attending a Selection, Planning and Management workshop with SKImfi Zimbabwe.

She accessed a $100 microloan through SKImfi to open the doors. She sells radios, television sets, cell phones, and has recently begun importing solar panels and batteries from South Africa. Through profits from the business, Prudence buys better food, clothing, toys, and medication for her family.

Prudence K., in her electronic supplies store.

“I am now proud to associate with other people in the community, as I look very presentable and I am confident in whatever I do,” she says.

Now, Prudence decides how to spend money without her husband’s permission, and she feels that he respects her more because of her independence. Not only does she provide for her family, but she also supports philanthropy in her community. In April, she donated five 12-foot asbestos roofing sheets to her church. Her charity also extends to a widow living at the church, whose welfare Prudence contributes to.

“I hope to do more as my business grows,” she says.

Prudence struggled to provide stable resources for her family before this business venture. Married at 18 years old and unable to pay college tuition fees, a job was impossible to find. Her husband left for South Africa to look for employment while Prudence was seven months pregnant with her third child, but he was unsuccessful. She says her own mother was her inspiration for starting her business.

“I thought how mother had succeeded in sending us to school through buying and selling anything that had demand,” she says. “She is my inspiration, a strong woman who always hopes for better things. She is still doing business, and now my younger sister and brother are at university. If it had been my father’s choice, we would have not gone to school, especially us girls.”

Prudence attributes her business’ success to the SKImfi team’s training sessions and to the program’s low interest rates. Before she learned of SKImfi, she was faced with exorbitant interest rates from private money lenders, and, with no collateral to guarantee repayment, she couldn’t secure a loan from local banks. Now that her business is steadily building capital, she will not need another loan until she is ready to further expand her business.

“My vision is to become a major supplier of hi-tech goods,” Prudence says. “I will work to buy a house for my family and a pick up truck for my business. I will work to thank my mother for sending me to school.”

Categories : Company Organization, SKICharities, SKImfi Tags : community, community-minded, empower women, Harare, microfinance, philanthropy, SKI Charities, SKIC, SKImfi, small-scale, solidarity lending, women, Zimbabwe

April 24, 2014 by SKIC | No Comments

Why Early-Stage Scholarships? (Part 3)

In parts 1 and 2 of this series, we reported that investing in early-stage education makes social and fiscal sense for both the recipient and the community. In this post, we’ll explore how, relative to later interventions, early-stage intervention is remarkably more effective and much lower in cost.

2014 SKIpgo recipients and their families

Policies that aim to repair educational deficits from early years are more expensive than smart investments made during childhood. As James J. Heckman asserts throughout his work, as a person ages, the cost of remedying early education deficits increases. Moreover, attempts to recoup these deficits later in life are often ineffective, even with vast funding.

In a 2006 article published in Science, Heckman emphasized that early interventions are even more effective than later interventions such as smaller pupil-teacher ratios, convict rehabilitation programs, public job training, or tuition subsidies.

Beyond being more effective, early interventions also produce greater returns than later ones. In Gary Becker’s 1964 paper on human capital, he showed that the return is higher on human capital when it is spent on young people. According to Becker, because they generally have more life left to live, there is a longer timeframe for investors to see returns.

Through investments in young girls, SKIpgo is reducing the long-term expenses for their communities and preventing late-term reparative costs. SKIpgo is a small program, but it is flourishing.

“As we grow, we will stimulate growth in more and more communities,” Shyam says.

Read Part 1 and Part 2.

Categories : Uncategorized Tags : child development, early-stage scholarships, education, empower women, SKIpgo, Zimbabwe

February 17, 2014 by SKIC | No Comments

A Word with SKIC’s Founder

: SKIC founder Shyam K. Iyer visiting a site in Myanmar

SKI Charities’ founder Shyam K. Iyer discusses the path that brought him to work for women’s empowerment and the impact that this work has made on him.

In your own words, what is your role in SKI Charities?

My role is to make sure we have the best people in place to run the foundation and achieve our goal to empower the economically excluded, both operationally in the near-term and strategically in the long-term. I constantly communicate with and connect our project managers on the ground, our social media experts back home, and our robust network of like-minded individuals who will go above and beyond to make sure we are on the right track.

How have you seen microfinance improve women’s lives?

I’ve seen microfinance have an unbelievable impact on real lives. Women who had no jobs or hope are now creating wealth through hard work for themselves and their community. People look up to them, and they have become leaders. They take better care of their health and their family’s health. They put their newfound wealth towards the education of their children– many go back to school themselves to improve their skills.

What path brought you to this work?

Through my career in international finance it was clear how many talented but excluded people were out there. I’ve been given every opportunity in life, but others are barely surviving each day due to no fault of their own. There are a lot of dark places in the world where good people struggle with no hope. I thought inclusive finance could be the answer to give them an opportunity to take control of their destiny.

What about your job inspires and motivates you?

I’m most inspired by our SKIC team. They level of skills and local knowledge necessary to keep us going is amazing. They deal with all types of people: beneficiaries, unsuccessful applicants, politicians, bankers, and anyone else who may or may not understand how we are trying to change the way people live. My job is to oversee the overall health of SKIC, but the day-to-day exercise and maintenance is where it all starts. And that is why I’m so lucky to have such a great and dedicated team. They care about SKIC and it shows.

Through your work with SKI Charities, is there any one story, event or person that sticks in your mind as meaningful to you?

I recently visited a SKImfi Zimbabwe beneficiary in Mutare. She had only recently joined, and when I saw her she was quite impressive. Standing tall behind her vegetable stall with a huge smile, her friends scurried around to assist her, and the locals looked at her with pure admiration. I was glad for her and assumed she had been doing good business for a while. Instead I heard that before she joined a few months prior, she had been widowed with six children and nowhere to go. She sat at home crying and lived off of handouts from neighbors. The kids had to leave school, and their futures looked bleak. Somehow our field officer heard about her through our network and the local SKImfi team decided she deserved a shot, at least for the hope she would have. The day she joined she took off like a rocket ship. This is why we do what we do.

Categories : SKICharities Tags : Chile, education, empowerwomen, microfinance, Zimbabwe

January 2, 2014 by SKIC | No Comments

A Word with our SKIpgo Zimbabwe Program Manager

Elizabeth, our program manager for SKIpgo-Zimbabwe, discusses her work with SKI Charities and her passion for child development.

In your own words, what is your role in SKI charities?

I work for the SKIpgo Zimbabwe Trust, one of the projects run by SKI charities in Mutare, Zimbabwe. I recruit candidates who are eligible for the scholarships we offer. In the process, I conduct interviews at our office for the eligible candidates. I also do home visits to really get to know our candidates, where they are coming from and how they live with their families. I monitor our recruits’ academic progress and also how well they abide by the rules of SKIpgo Zimbabwe Trust.

How have you seen microfinance improve women’s lives?

Microfinance has tremendously empowered women who were before looked down upon and were always dependent on their husbands or others. In Zimbabwe, large swaths of men are no longer able to work because most industries have shut down lots of jobs. Microfinance has enabled women to start their own businesses, to take care of their families.

What path brought you to this work?

It is so exciting that people really want to help the girl child. I was so willing to work in this project because I have seen women suffer a lot, and this charity reaches the children who are involved in that suffering. I have always had the heart and desire to help and protect women and girls because I believe that strong, educated women will make the world a better place.

What about your job inspires and motivates you?

I am inspired by so many people and things. SKI Charities’ founder Shyam is male and has a heart that bleeds to help empower women. I am touched by such events. As a woman, I feel I have an obligation to help other women accept and support each other to achieve our goals. Also, my mother has worked so hard to get where she is now. In her small nursery, she has produced doctors, nurses and teachers, which motivates me as well.

Through your work with SKI Charities, is there any one story, event or person that sticks in your mind as meaningful to you?

I have worked with so many families through SKI Charities, but one family particularly touched my heart. One of our four-year-old scholarship beneficiaries lives with her mother and grandmother in a one-room house that they divide into two rooms with a curtain. One day when I went there for a visit, the grandmother was in tears of joy and so thankful that her grandchild had improved so much academically, socially and behaviorally. SKI Charities truly gives hope to the hopeless.

Categories : SKICharities, SKIpgo Tags : child development, early-stage scholarships, education, empower women, microfinance, SKI Charities, Zimbabwe

October 31, 2013 by SKIC | No Comments

A Word with our SKImfi Zimbabwe Field Officer

Our field officer for SKImfi-Zimbabwe discusses his work with SKI Charities and the path that led him to develop a passion for woman and child development.

Causemore Samanga, SKImfi Zimbabwe field officer

What is your role in SKI Charities?

My role is to identify prospective loan beneficiaries, those who are struggling to make ends meet and need a boost to increase business profits. Once women are accepted to the SKImfi program, I give them a two-hour training on how to select and plan their businesses. I also assist the project officer with distributing loans. During the loan period, I make monitoring visits to check on their businesses, take pictures and to advise on better ways of doing a particular business.

How have you seen microfinance improve women’s lives?

A small loan of just $100.00 can tremendously change the life of a household, especially when it is given to a woman, the one who usually manages the household economy in Zimbabwe. I have seen women begin meaningful businesses and position themselves to provide basic needs for their households such as food, school fees, medication, farming inputs and social capital. Women no longer depend solely on their husbands, and husbands see them as equally important. Women’s social status has improved, as they are now able to make financial contributions to their churches, to extended family and to community programs.

What path brought you to this work?

I have worked for community development organizations for 12 years after spending time with Dr. Abigail Bar of Oxford University in research programs on african economics. Through that work and all that has followed, I developed a passion for the development of women and children. By fostering the opportunities for women in Zimbabwe, I am helping to shape the future of a lot of children.

What about your job inspires and motivates you?

I am inspired by the possibility for women to free themselves from the bondage of extreme poverty through engaging in income-generating businesses. Through the 12 years I have been in development work, I have seen those with whom I work transform into successful business women who also have managed to send their children to universities. Among a host of development initiatives in Zimbabwe, I believe microfinance is one of the best ways to transform lives. I enjoy seeing the benefits that this has for community members. I cannot see myself doing a different job in my life.

Categories : SKICharities, SKImfi Tags : empowerwomen, Harare, microfinance, SKICharities, SKImfi, Zimbabwe

October 24, 2013 by SKIC | No Comments

Happy 3rd Birthday SKIC! – Zimbabwe Photo Journal

SKIC beneficiary, Mutare, Zimbabwe

In October of 2010, Shyam K. Iyer began SKI Charities. Two countries, three projects, and hundreds of beneficiaries later, the organization is now celebrating it’s 3rd birthday. And we are just getting started.

To celebrate the occasion we commissioned a photojournal of our very first project, the SKImfi Microfinance Institute in Mutare, Zimbabwe. To view the portraits of our beneficiaries and team, click here.

As we continue on our journey, please stay in touch:
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Categories : SKICharities, SKImfi Tags : birthday, child development, documentary, early-stage scholarships, education, empower women, microfinance, photojournal, SKI Charities, Zimbabwe

October 3, 2013 by SKIC | 1 Comment

A Conversation with Shyam: Inspiration Found in Local Mapuche Craft-Making and Cuisine

Shyam returned from his most recent trip to Lebu, Chile inspired by the crafts, textiles, and food being created by SKImfi microfinance beneficiaries of indigenous Mapuche heritage. SKI Charities aims to give women a path to start and grow sustainable businesses that encourage them to utilize their culturally-embedded skillset.

Listen in to hear more about the progress we are making in Lebu to preserve the traditional Mapuche culture.

Categories : Podcast, SKICharities Tags : child development, craftmaking, early-stage scholarships, education, empower women, Mapuches, microfinance, philanthropy, Podcast, SKI Charities, Zimbabwe