Assignment 1

Micro-Success! learning team members - please click the link below now to add this discussion to your watchlist: http://www.omidyar.net/group/i4c/news/7/watch

Bonus Points

I will send each of you 3 personal feedback points for every 5 points you add to this discussion. The first person who posts here with the correct instructions for adding points to the discussion will also receive 5 comment points from me.

Member lets work hard for the betterment of our comunity and bring changes for a better future

Dear members,This is the right oppotunity that has nocked us.Therefore let us utilise it effectively .what we need to do is ,work tirelessly, dedicate yourself , be committed ,creative and have a role play,Dafenately we will not miss.

Christina (NAkirabo) Jordan said:

The Micro-Success team is learning to connect our community members to online opportunities to improve their livelihoods thru Kiva, fundraising campaigns and product sales.

This discussion is where Micro-Success! team members gather to receive assignments, discuss what they are learning, and seek help/input on completing their tasks. We are all here to help each other learn how to represent our community, and our community members online.

Good luck, and don't forget to have fun!

Well ,the micro success team are learning the fallowings:- 1.They are learning how to represent their community to others by sending their views and also collecting more infomation and giving it back to their communities. 2.They are also learning how to market the community products in which they belongs to the globle communities. 3.They are also learning how to improve the community life by improving the productivities and creating more market for them..In all ,the micro success teams are learning to be role players in the community.

Am happy to be part of this team and i would like to really help our community to improved thier livelihoods, Am really requesting members that as human being you can not know every thing,but help me be role model.and i always share,unite,and consult,and actively work for the betterment of the community.we shall aprecites all correction for the betterments of the community.and we need to break the circles of poverty and ingnorace,by improving the standard of living together we stand divided we fall. Thanks for every support and the intaitive.

Am very impressed to be part of the Micro success team that will help soo much the people of We center Gulu in their loan programme.Therefore as team members , we have a lot to do in order to make this programme a successful one.Let us commite and dedicate ourself so that we critically analyse our roles and responsibilities to this programme as well as to the Lia community as a whole.

I always don't forget to thank Christina for all this great opportunities that she is bringing for the entire community of Lia.Please rercieve my credicts.

I've no doubt you guys will all do great!

Hopefully by now you have completed Assignment 2, which was:

1. opened a flickr account
2. practiced uploading at least one photo
3. searched for and joined the lifeinafrica group on flickr

Assignment 3

Please read, study and comment on the following thread: Community Guaranteed Online Lending

So far the first assignment is done by three members;munnu,barry and denis.so its a task to the two members to follow the same trend so as we move to the next step.thats Robert and Obwola G.

Thanks Robert.George are done?

Take note members we need to meet every time there's a s chedule otherwise WE have the following assignments to perform; 1 Making sure each of us has a flickr account. 2 Must have completed collecting loan data from our cliants. 3 Go to the cliants homes to take there snaps thats photos. I wish you the best to our success.

Greeting to all, I have one client called Aruba James who formerly applied for laon amounting to 500,000 ( Uganda shillings five hundred thousand shillings ) , for the bussiness of retail in shop .But after finding that he is not contented with that business, he desided to change to a business of Bodaboda motorcycle .The loan he is requesting for is 2,000,000 His income is 460,000 per month .

Is he free to change his business?, what would be the bad and the good part of this changes.

Robert -

1. Has James already presented his loan to the community once? If he's only presented it once, then it's no problem. He is free to change his plan. But he should still briefly present the loan to the community a second time, explain to them why he changed and ask their input before you finalize his application.
2. The kiva limit is $1,200. So to see whether this loan can be applied for from Kiva or not, you should find the "exchange rates" link on the i4c Uganda start page and see how much the amount is in dollars.
3. The monthly principle payment on a loan of 2m over 12 months is 167,000. The total interest on the loan is 20%, or shs 400000/12=33000 per month. So the total monthly payment will be 167000+33000, or 200,000 per month. You will need to be able to show evidence that James can afford that payment for a year. (Key question - how is James spending his extra income now?)
4. My questions: has james calculated insurance and safety equipment into his plan? (helmets are now required by Ugandan law). Also, who will he employ to ride the motorbike, is that person licensed, and is that person aware of the plan?

Can any one advise the community on the risk and certainities of the fallowing businesses? I have collected this from when I saw that many of them are surgesting this business.

They are :- Making local breweries from millet and dry cassava, Produce ie buying and selling later the food and cash crops when the price has increaed,Retail business(selling second hand clothes, shop keeping etc), Hotel, Brickslaying,Bodaboda cyclist,Saloon (Hair dressing ) , Selling charcoal,Drug shop , Farming (growing crops ) Paper bids ,Fish monger, Broilers , Layers, Piggery, Dairy cattle.

I need advice and comments so that i presen it back to them .

Robert,

a workspace could help us to list the various businesses and brainstorm about their merits/risks

Everyone click here please: BusinessPlanning

I've created a MicroSuccess workspace with all of our assignments in it so far.

Learning Team members, please edit the workspace to add your name when you have completed each assignment.

Robert how far have you gone taking the cliants pics? otherwise we need you to finish up with you cliants so as George or berry takes on his cliant too.maintain the good work

I am wondering where the client and loan stories are that we talked about posting here.

Hi members, I have some clients with their loan plans , please study well and post your comment accordingly .

CLIENT`S NAME.................... ...............:ALUR NIGHTY

CLIENT`S BUSINESS................................:FISH MONGER

LAON REQUESTED FOR...............:............USHs 500,000

STARTING UP BUSINESS.........................:USHs 200,000

LICENCE..........................:.......USHs 50,000 P/YEAR

TRANSPORT........................:......USHs 180,000 P/YEAR

CONTIGENCY MONEY........................:USHs 70,000

G.TOTAL.................................:USHs 500,000

This client has taken almost two years in this business and she has some one who normally brings the fishes for her while she is in the market selling even the one for that person who is bring her stuff from the river side .I askd her , why are you doing it that way ? She said, to reduce the transport cost and that is why transport is only 180,000 per year.

I took my time to visit her business side and confirmed her report . For her , she had been doing that business eversince and she is confident of expanding her business when she is given the resources.

ANY COMMENT IS WELCOME .

THIS IS ANOTHER CLIENT . NAME..................................:ACOMO CATHERINE.

BUSINESS.............................:.MAKING LOCAL BREWERY.

LOAN REQUESTED........................:USHs.300,000

STARTING THE BUSINESS.................:USHs 200000

MATERIALS: 1.FIRE WOOD.................USHs 50,000 P/YEAR

2.YEAST.....................USHs 20,000 P/YEAR

3. POT .....................USHs 25,000
4. STRAW.....................USHs 5,000
5. G.TOTAL...................USHs 300,000

Please post your commence and advices.

CAN ANY ONE TELL ME IF AM POSTING IN THE RIGHT LINK OR NOT

OTHERWISE IHAVE GATHERED ENOUGH TO PRESENT .TO AVOID MORE MISTAKE, GUIDE ME HOW IT IS SUPOSTTO BE .

Robert,Thanks so much for trying your best to come up with these loans however there are a few observatons that I would like to make :

Some of the figures seem too small for a whole year, take for example the yeast in the second business that amount for a year seems little, and is the firewood also for the whole year or is it just for this one time. And in the first business, at one point you said she has been in the business for two years already, but the budget indicates that 200,000/= is for starting up the business, it looks abit confusing, so such are the kind of things you may have to first look closely at before typing up your loan plans.

Good idea Grace,200,000= is some little money for such a business but that remains that she needs it for asmall scale business otherwise medical check ups and lincence consumes nearly a half the money requested.so,there's need for readjustment in the money requested.Robert,I inorder for the business to be succesful,there's needs for a enough savings to top up the loan(200,000=)

Robert I don't understand the starting business figures either. What does that mean exactly?

MicroSuccess team, please follow the links on this page to see how stories have been written in the past. Robert, we need more STORY about your borrowers and their projects. http://www.omidyar.net/group/lia/ws/LoansEditing The figures indeed need to make sense, but the figures alone are not enough.

Thank you christina and every one for your commence . Starting figure means , the exact amount for the real business or for buying a particular quantity for the business.For example if fish monger,the real money for buying fish from the river.

Also if making local brewery, the actual money for buying the millet say 10 sacks.

Actually that is the format I used when drafting the loan . IF ANY ONE HAS ANY GOOD IDEAR BETTER THAN MIND PLEASE HURY AND GIVE ME SO THAT I POST ALL THAT IHAVE .AND ALSO WILL GIVE ME TIME TO GO VERY FAST AND ADVISE MY CLIENTS

This is the loan plan for Jeneffer Opoka ,please post your commence /advices.

1.NAMES :......................................JENEFFER OPOKA

2.BUSINESS ......................................PAPER BEADS

3.AMOUNT REQUESTED..............................USHs 300,000

4.PAYING ONE WORKER.....................USHs.15,000P/MONTH

5.MATERIALS:-(VARNISH)...................USHs.16,000(5 TINS)

6.PAPERS.........................USHs .60,000 FOR THE START

G /TOTAL......................................USHs 300,000

7.STRINGS......................................USHs.20,000

8 05 NEEDLES...................................USHs.1,000

9. 04 TUBES OF PAPER GLUE.......................USHs 12,000

She stated that ,her children and other farmily members will be also involve in beads making so as to reduce the cost of labour an the person employed will be working only from afternoons ie 12 noon to 06pm.

commence are invited from members.