Our Proven Model

Poverty is complex and its impact can be devastating. Families living in extreme poverty suffer malnutrition, disease, and early death. They lack access to education, clean water, affordable healthcare, adequate housing, and justice. Five Talents' programs address these needs through savings-led microenterprise development.

Savings and Loan Groups are the Key to Our Success

At the heart of our approach are community savings and loan groups.

Five Talents partners with churches to form small groups of neighbors who agree to save together and offer each other loans. In many remote communities, residents — particularly women — lack the opportunity to go to school, so Five Talents starts by helping them learn how to read, write, count, and make change. Group members also learn how to plan and manage their finances and how to start and grow small businesses. The members use their own resources and save what they can — often as little as the equivalent of 50 cents USD per week. By pooling their funds together, the savings and loan groups provide a foundation for economic development within each community.

Groups appoint their own leaders and assign roles — often a treasurer, secretary, and chairperson — and savings are counted and publicly recorded during group meetings. After six months of saving, members can apply for loans to start and grow their own small businesses, repaying their loans with a low interest rate set by the group. As the groups’ savings grow, the funds available to build their businesses also grow.

Five Talents savings and loan groups have a 95% average repayment rate. As each cycle continues, poverty is broken and new businesses, assets, and resources are developed.