Just imagine for a second what your life would be like without a bank account. No checking or savings account. Could you function?
As our Five Talents UK website says, “In the West most people have multiple accounts across a range of banks, and it’s difficult to imagine a world in which simple financial services like savings and loans are out of reach. The reality in rural, sub-Saharan Africa and other poor areas around the world is very different to our own.”
In these areas most local banks cannot afford to lend small sums of money to local would-be entrepreneurs who have little or no collateral. The risks are simply too high. Large banks even find it difficult to provide affordable and convenient savings services for communities at the bottom of the economic ladder.
And so, through Five Talents savings and loans programs, women and men save their own money, develop “social collateral” among their friends, earn interest on their savings, and take out loans less than $100 to start new businesses.
Just imagine how much better life can be…
Until next Monday,
Dale Stanton-Hoyle
Executive Director