Hospitality Business Management: - College of Business ...
Hospitality Business Management: - College of Business ...
Hospitality Business Management: - College of Business ...
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in her community are able to provide<br />
for their families.”<br />
Typically, the business started by<br />
one borrower can provide for her<br />
entire family, Randall said. At present,<br />
Unitus has helped 679,000 borrowers<br />
through its nine micr<strong>of</strong>inance partners,<br />
so “we’re really helping three<br />
million people get out <strong>of</strong> poverty.”<br />
There are some facts that have been<br />
discovered about the micr<strong>of</strong>inance<br />
industry, which is about 30 years old,<br />
he said. When they provide loans<br />
for poor women to start their own<br />
businesses, those women typically<br />
will choose to spend proceeds on<br />
their children, including health care<br />
and education. In many cases, those<br />
children will be the first in their<br />
family to go to school.<br />
They also know that nutrition <strong>of</strong><br />
the borrower’s family will be greatly<br />
improved. “We’re really providing a<br />
means, if you’re living on less than<br />
$2 a day, eating twice a day, to go<br />
from two meals a day to three,”<br />
Randall said.<br />
They also know that the borrowers<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten have very sharp business<br />
instincts, despite a lack <strong>of</strong> education.<br />
“Don’t underestimate the intellectual<br />
ability <strong>of</strong> the poor,” he said. “Whether<br />
it’s figuring out I can sell more tortillas<br />
if I move my stand here or save by<br />
buying in bulk, you don’t need a<br />
degree to know that.”<br />
Last April, Randall’s job became a<br />
lot less theoretical when he went to<br />
Africa.<br />
“I (was) in Kenya, visiting our<br />
partner, Jamii Bora Trust, one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
largest micr<strong>of</strong>inance institutions<br />
in Kenya. It has 120,000 borrowers<br />
currently, and is a phenomenal<br />
success story. They operate across<br />
Kenya. Fifty percent are in the slums<br />
in and around Nairobi. It’s a city<br />
<strong>of</strong> four million, two million in the<br />
slums around the city. They do a lot<br />
<strong>of</strong> work with people living in that<br />
kind <strong>of</strong> setting. Along with providing<br />
loan products…they also provide<br />
health care insurance for $12 a year in<br />
conjunction with a Catholic hospital.<br />
It’s quite amazing they can provide<br />
it. That actually includes HIV medications.”<br />
And that is a vital consideration;<br />
according to a recent story in the<br />
Washington Post, people living in<br />
towns in Kenya have an HIV rate <strong>of</strong><br />
about 30 percent.<br />
Randall spent time in the second<br />
largest slum in Nairobi, which he said<br />
made him feel as if he had stepped<br />
directly into a picture <strong>of</strong> a different<br />
world.<br />
“It was motivating. It was encouraging<br />
to see that micr<strong>of</strong>inance is<br />
really having an impact on individuals.<br />
I sat down and we talked about<br />
their lives before and after receiving<br />
loans. We learned people really are<br />
able to increase their incomes by<br />
starting up businesses, and that they<br />
are using their additional incomes<br />
to do things like sending their kids<br />
to school, purchasing health care<br />
insurance, having a better nutritional<br />
intake. That was really encouraging.”<br />
Nonetheless, there’s hardly time to<br />
be complacent, he said.<br />
“You come to understand micr<strong>of</strong>inance<br />
is not the end-all solution, but<br />
that there’s a lot <strong>of</strong> work to do. It’s<br />
12 WSU <strong>College</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Business</strong>