Two worlds, two loans
Now, I’m not a financial guru so I won’t be offering you business loan advice but I did make an interesting observation. Where you live determines your level of access to business financing. Let’s start with my Irish buddy who is an irrigation technician. That’s how we met, at a private landscape company.
David knew his trade well and did a good job for his boss. Alas, there wasn’t extra cash to pay him so David did what many are afraid to do: he bailed. He gave notice and left. Then he approach BDC or Business Development Corporation for a business loan.
I haven’t done it personally but you can apply for a business loan of up to $100,000 online, without any fees. There are certain conditions you have to meet and David passed. When I saw him next he had his own van and he was hustling up clients. He was also much happier, if not yet richer.
That was years ago. Today he has a thriving business with five hundred clients. Irrigation systems have to be activated in late spring and blown out in fall. If you don’t turn your system on, your plants and lawns will suffer; if you fail to blow out the air from your irrigation pipes, they will freeze and blow up. I’ve seen this happen where new owners moved in and didn’t know about it; and it also happened at a “ghost house” in Burnaby, BC, because the owners were in China and the caretaker didn’t know what to do.
Fixing broken irrigation pipes is also a common task but, by far the most lucrative jobs involve installing brand new irrigation systems.
David is lucky because he lives in Canada and the BDC has cash and knowledge to help him get started.
Third world
Now, it’s much different in the Third World. Poor people in marginal countries don’t have access to business loans. Which is why today I lent $25 to a 47-year-old vegetable farmer from the Philippines. She needs only US$350 for seeds and fertilizer; I know people who spend that much in one night at the bar.
Mirasol has three kids to feed and I know what that’s like.
Kiva.org handles the loan. When the loan is one hundred percent funded, they send the cash over to a local organisation. Mirasol buys the seed and fertilizer she needs and eventually starts to repay the cash. So, my $25 loan will come back to me.
We know that the neediest people are female farmers so I personally targets these people with my loans. If you can, join me. It’s not a scam. Yes, a few farmers have fallen behind but overall my cash comes back.
Small loans like this are even more important today after Donald Trump demolished USAid. Help people if you can. I can’t wait to hear an update on Mirasol’s progress.
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