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Venture: A Collection of True Microfinance Stories

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Venture is a rich and readable collection of true microfinance stories. It is written for anyone who would like to better understand the realities faced by the the aspiring middle class in the world's least developed countries, the range of factors that affect their prospects for working their way out of poverty, and how microfinance can impact their lives.

The entrepreneurs featured in this book are all members of Zidisha Microfinance, a web-based crowdfunding platform that allows low-income, computer-savvy entrepreneurs in developing countries to share their stories and negotiate microloans directly with individual lenders. As the world's first person-to-person lending service to eliminate intermediaries and connect individual web users and entrepreneurs across the international wealth divide, Zidisha is uniquely positioned to offer an undistorted depiction of the variety of individual stories and circumstances that come to play each time a microfinance loan is disbursed.

Each story paints an unforgettable picture: A seventy-year-old goat farmer who relocates his home to better care for his ailing father, carrying the sticks and metal sheeting it was made from across the mountains on his back. A plump, beaming detergent saleslady who lives in a home no larger than an ordinary bathroom but has adopted five orphans. A cancer survivor who supports herself and two children by pounding millet for $1.58 per day. An irrepressible lady who supplies half of her neighborhood with much-needed IVs and other medical supplies by day, and by night checks into the local cybercafe to chat with Facebook friends on the other side of the world. A young man who has no arms but insists on working to support his able-bodied parents out of filial duty. An accounting student who pays for his university tuition by purchasing a taxi and splitting proceeds with a hired driver. A bright young lady who renounces college to care for her orphaned siblings and overcomes gender stereotypes to launch a thriving construction business.

At its heart, Venture is a tribute to the remarkable community of Zidisha Microfinance entrepreneurs and countless others like them - a tribute to their grit, ambition and indomitable spirit in the face of overwhelming obstacles. We hope this book will help translate the statistics about poverty and the opportunities afforded by microfinance into human terms, and inspire readers to reach out and connect with their counterparts on the other side of the international wealth divide.

123 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 28, 2012

169 people want to read

About the author

Julia Kurnia

1 book4 followers
I've loved books for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I devoured the novels in our school library, and was always getting into trouble for reading them during class. My favorite books were historical fiction, especially the ones that let me explore the rich tapestry of civilizations that have existed around the world before modern times. In college I learned foreign languages so that I could read great works of European literature in the original.

I spent twenty years working in international poverty alleviation, which involved extended stays in Senegal, Kenya, and India. I learned Wolof and lived with a family of fishermen on the west coast of Africa, an experience which inspired my debut novel,The Song of Tiyya. It was during this time that I founded Zidisha, a philanthropic crowdfunding platform that helps people in Africa start small businesses and improve their lives.

Today I live in Virginia, where I homeschool my two sons. They inspired me to found Kid Art Show, an online marketplace for kids to sell their artwork, and Nautilus Homeschool, a literature-based homeschooling curriculum for kids who love to read. When they got into novel writing, their example encouraged me to use my fascination with historical research and stories collected during my travels to write my own work of fiction.

In my free time, I enjoy martial arts, distance running, meditation, and, of course, reading.

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Profile Image for Xing Chen.
Author 1 book89 followers
December 20, 2012
If you've heard of Zidisha Microfinance before, you're likely to have experienced a sense of curiosity and awe at their modus operandi. This unusual publication offers a glimpse into the lives of their beneficiaries (primarily in Kenya and Senegal, with some in Indonesia), and is written in a style that reflects the qualities of their organisation- simple, direct, and quite surprising at times.

Zidisha is a non-profit organisation with online and offline components: 1. Its online platform matches micro-lenders with recipients, and provides recipients with a page on which they may post information about their business and personal life. It allows the two parties the freedom to select their interest rate (as long as the rate remains within a relatively low range), without itself taking a cut of the monetary transaction. 2. It manages teams of volunteers on the ground, who interact with local merchants and conduct background checks on recipients to verify their eligibility.

The system relies on trust and reputation- face-to-face meetings with beneficiaries are the crucial first step and must be done in person. Ideal candidates should already have a good financial track record, and possess strong ties within their local community. Once that foundation is established, the responsibility rests upon lenders, to choose recipients with whom they feel comfortable. Both parties negotiate an interest rate, money is exchanged, and the relationship lasts until the borrower returns the agreed-upon sum.

This collection of writing documents a diversity of interactions between volunteers, lenders, and recipients, over extended periods of time. Brief accounts provide details of the life histories, inspirations, and goals of the borrowers, often showcasing interesting personalities and highlighting their determination and hard work. Stories cover an insightfully wide range of businesses, occupations, backgrounds, ages, and challenges.

I was particularly intrigued at the editorial choices made, in the selection and sequencing of stories for the collection.

One of the first things to strike me: near the beginning of the book are tales of hardship, and loans that go unpaid for a long time (e.g. stories 5 and 7). The introduction should have prepared me for this:

"These are not all success stories. Some of the investments described in this book fail, due to poor business decisions, illness, or changing market conditions, and many other factors -- leaving the entrepreneurs no better off than before they received their loans. We believe the collection of stories presented here is fairly representative of the range of outcomes typically achieved with microfinance loans: many dramatic successes, many modest improvements, and some failures."

All the same, I'd been expecting rose-tinted accounts of against-the-odds successes- exposure to relentless marketing and advertising in the media in general tends to make one cynical and accustomed to air-brushed images. Zidisha reports an overall success rate of 97% for loan repayment, so I'd expected this publication to include, perhaps, a couple of less-successful tales, buried in the later part of the book. Instead, among the first few accounts were stories that elicited a visceral flush of disappointment. As I thought about this, it brought home the realisation that many of the recipients face a constant uphill battle. An injection of cash does not necessarily change things for the better overnight, and in the cases where it does make a rapid, positive difference, we should remain aware that these are likely to be exceptions rather than the norm. I'm grateful to the editors for making the conscious effort to include a variety of outcomes, rather than just the feel-good ones. It gives lenders a better idea of what to expect, and reminds us that change is neither simple, nor a guaranteed result of making an electronic transaction from one's bank account.

Another point that caught my attention was the writing style- anecdotal, descriptive, simply-worded, and for the most part, relatively unpolished. This stands in stark contrast to formal reports, which include at most just a few paragraphs of quoted material, if any.

Each account is comprised of a third-person description of the borrower's situation, followed by a section in the borrower's own words.

The first part of the narrative, from the perspective of volunteers, reads like a blog, kept by a wide-eyed visitor who is constantly soaking in new experiences and making discoveries. It comes close to what I imagine I'd be feeling, if I were in their position- positive in tone, able to see a silver lining amidst descriptions of difficult situations, and appreciative of the optimism amongst borrowers.

Statements from the borrowers themselves are refreshingly conversational and plaintive in tone, and broach difficult issues- direct observations and frank opinions abound, and one gets the sense that the authors have not been conditioned to engage in self-censorship and indulge in overly-politically-correct pleasantries. Hyperlinks at the end of each account bring you to the borrower's profile page.

This collection was an eye-opening, inspiring read, and my impression was of realistically-presented case studies, designed to engage the reader through logic as well as through emotions. After reading articles online about the history of Zidisha, the team behind it, and the shoe-string budget on which it is run, I'm all the more impressed by the sheer hard work, dedication, and selflessness that went into both the compilation of this volume, and the creation of Zidisha.
Profile Image for Laura.
146 reviews10 followers
October 29, 2012
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for sending them my feedback and writing a candid review. I like to think that I like being candid more than I like free books, but either way, you should know the context in which I'm reviewing this book.

The introductory chapter of Venture is great. It states: "...the range of outcomes that result from microfinance is no different from the range of outcomes that result from conventional finance in developed countries...We believe the collection of stories presented here is fairly representative of the range of outcomes typically achieved with microfinance loans: many dramatic successes, many modest improvements, and some failures...What emerges clearly from this narrative is a vibrant kaleidoscope of human talent, ambition and indomitable spirit in the face of overwhelming obstacles."

Yup. That is exactly what the book delivers.

Each chapter is one or two pages written by an employee of Zidisha, describing their visit to a particular entrepreneur. They talk about that person's life and personality, the family they must support, the general hardships they face, the business venture they are working on, and any successes and failures they have met along the way. This is followed by about half a page of text taken directly from the borrower's Zidisha page, expressing their story and thanks in their own words.

There is a wide range of awesome stuff in here.

First, there is the sheer variety of business ventures. You've got your typical farms and general stores, but you've also got fashion, fruit juice, construction materials, medical supplies, tourist lodging, motorbike repair, homemade disinfectants (seriously?!), and rabbit farming.

Second, it's instructive to see the variety of hardships people face (although this is the bad kind of "awesome.") Most of those who struggle in the book do so because of emergency medical expenses. There are also stories of theft (which in some cases can more accurately be called "fraud," as there is little legal enforcement in place to protect someone from a vendor who swindles them), and more than one who had their home or workplace demolished to make way for public works.

Third, it is inspiring to see all of the ways people persevere for their own benefit as well as that of others in their family and community. There's a young man who is trying to make a stable business out of his family's history as self-employed taxi drivers, a woman who used her loan to start a school for the children of poor day laborers, a man who repaid his loan despite forgoing profits from the investment by giving away food to his starving neighbors during a drought, and a woman who spends several hours every day reading books on business and marketing. She is basically giving herself an MBA, and throughout her story I found I could easily picture her as the sales manager of a big business in the US.

That said, the book is worth it just for the stories of two people: Rose Karanja and Alassane Diop. Rose gave up a college education to care for her orphaned siblings, built a construction materials supply company from the ground up to become a respected businesswoman in the construction industry, and aspires to go back to school to study civil engineering. (As a female engineer in the US, I am basically bowing down in awe to her. Dear Zidisha: I would read an entire book about her.) Alassane writes eloquently about how the loan money has improved his life and that of his family, and gives detailed descriptions of the poverty and political chaos in his home region. Just trust me, it is worth reading.

Finally, the book is surprisingly rigorous in discussing how the borrowers make business decisions. Even though each chapter is only a few pages long, many of the borrowers themselves discuss diversification, insulation from purchasing power declines, marketing, market growth, and so on. It is great to read about entrepreneurs deciding what to sell, whether to buy stock or equipment first, divesting of failed businesses in favor of new and growing markets they just recognized, and pondering the impacts of price volatility on their venture.

The book does not shy away from failure, which is also to its credit. It therefore provides an honest look at the limitations as well as the benefits of microfinance. Many borrowers go through unimaginable nonsense- medical emergency, theft, fraud, drought, economic collapse, and yet still do everything they can to repay the loan. When they fail, we are reminded that microfinance may be awesome, but it can't solve bigger societal problems. We need better health care, rule of law, education, and so on in order for microfinance to work properly.

Also, it reminds us that some businesses will fail! Something like 9 in 10 start-ups in the US go bankrupt. We shouldn't get any more hung up on the risk of lending to the poor than the risk of lending to the wealthy.

Bottom line: worth a read, if for nothing else than for the descriptions of a couple dozen awesome people accomplishing impressive things despite great hardship.
Profile Image for Fiona.
3 reviews2 followers
May 31, 2013
When I picked up this book I thought I was in for stories diving deep into the worlds of microfinance borrowers, analysing its impact on their lives and communities. Instead, what I got was 35 stories about 1-2 pages in length and made up of two parts: one a commentary contributed by Zidisha staff or volunteers and the other originally written by the borrowers on their Zidisha lending page.

At first I was a little disappointed as I wanted to know more about each of the borrowers and their stories, but once my expectations had adjusted I discovered what a gem this book is. Its beauty is in its simplicity and lack of agenda – successes and failures are recorded without judgement and in easy-to-read, conversational language.

It allows naïve, cocooned, developed world citizens like me to begin to understand how impoverished people might go about creating the opportunities to work their way to a comfortable existence for themselves and their families. I was struck by how most of the borrowers have multiple enterprises in order to earn an income and diversify risk, even those who are employed. These are competent business people who work incredible hours and keep pushing even if their world is crumbling.

The short stories and other research I have done testify to the minimal burden Zidisha place on their borrowers – they couldn’t write a novel about each borrower even if they wanted to because that would be a considerable time burden for these entrepreneurs. Instead it appears that Zidisha is just providing the tools for borrowers and lenders to access each other, and then just leaving them to it. It is so refreshing to find an organisation that doesn’t talk down to the people it assists or prescribe them a course of action.

Zidisha is based on trust and this book is based on truth. I’d recommend it for anyone who is interested in development aid or just learning more about the world we live in. It’ll pull at your heart strings, make you smile and hopefully leave you wanting to know and do more.
96 reviews1 follower
November 27, 2012
It is hard to provide a conclusive statement about the impact of microfinance. This book attempts to shed some light on it by giving more than 30 concrete examples of the use of microfinance in 4 countries. These cases are useful for the reader to understand the different environments where poor people live. Nonetheless, the book does not jump into conclusions about overall impact of microfinance and rightly so in my opinion. Finance (and microfinance in particular) is a complex matter and making conclusions on its impact on poverty has proven to be hard.

In most of the stories described in the book one can see how irregular poor people's income can be and how borrowers aim to invest in fixed assets or human capital that can potentiate income in the future or make it less volatile. These are interesting stories for those thinking of venturing into microfinance.

Not everyone can be an engenious entrepreneur and the authors did not shy away from giving examples of such cases where businesses have failed. This add to the credibility of the book and to its attempt to provide more awareness into Zidisha's operations. Perhaps charity are more effective in these situations and Zidisha seems to provide the required flexibility to apply this.

I came to know Zidisha through this book and I feel that it provides a more realistic approach to crowd funding than its most direct competitors. I may become a lender very soon.
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