SIFE's Microloan project in Uganda: Seed capital

Call it a microfinance program or seed capital, it is great to see the success of SIFE's micro loan project in Uganda.

Lindsay’s Blog:

"Teddy was in our first group of ten loan recipients from last May. She got a 300,000 UGS loan (about $150) to for her business in Bethlehem selling pancakes. She had eight months to pay back her loan in two installments.

Today (May 25th) we had an opportunity to meet with all of the trading loan recipients from last year (May loans, November loans and April loans). Teddy told us of her experience and we were blown away!

She used her loan to buy supplies for her pancakes in bulk at a discounted rate (cassava flour, bananas and cooking oil.) The market for her pancakes is very good in Bethlehem and she has little competition. In addition, her pancakes are very good (we tried them!) With her early profits from selling pancakes she was able to buy a pregnant she-goat who soon had two kids. Then she used her next profits from the pancakes to buy 3 hens and 1 cock"

EmbraceItAfrica Trip updates

Andrew Mantilla (2008 BBA, 2009 MBA) is part of the SBU-SIFE sponsored trip to Africa (See EmbraceitAFrica.org). He has kept a blog of their journey. Highly recommended!

Andrew's Blog: Last Days in Uganda:

"It was hard to see this other side of Africa where there is development, tourism, somewhat of a regular economy, and money. Our time at Bethlehem and Kyotera was full of intense culture and poverty where we were the only white people anywhere in site. It was hard to see the struggle that most of the people in this country have to go through and then just around the corner there are people with money.

I'm really going to miss the school as it was an experience that has changed the way I look and feel about things forever."

The rest of his blog is here. Some of the Africa Related posts are

• Last Days in Uganda
• Visiting Homes
• Teachers Gift from HSBC and Ugandan Homes
• Loans, School and More Uganda
• First Visit to the School, Driving, and Loan Meeti...
• First Full Day
• Arrival to Uganda
• Getting Ready To Leave
• Lindsay's Blog: Summary of Plans for 2009 Trip

SIFE's Annual Competition

WAY TO GO SIFE!

"The annual SIFE Regional Competition took place on April 3, 2009 in Tarrytown, NY. A group of five St. Bonaventure University seniors gave a 23 minute presentation on all of the work SBU SIFE has done in the past year. Seniors Lindsay Pohlman, Erin Danahy, Courtney Shares, Kristen Schober and Thomas Burke presented while freshman Lauren Pingelski over-saw the visual aspect of the presentation.

SBU SIFE has approximately 60 members and is one of the largest student service organization on campus. Projects serve the local community of Cattaragus County as well as the international communities of Grand Bahamas Island and Bethlehem, Uganda. The presentation included a variety of examples of these projects and how they met one or more of the six SIFE criteria. The team came in as first runners-up."

Several SIFE videos

Lyndsey Pohlman has created several videos about SIFE and its EmbraceitAfrica project. Here is an overview of SIFE's many projects.

SBU's SIFE Embraces Africa!

Africa Team Gives Presentation in NYC:

Last Wednesday, April 1st, the Embrace It Africa team presented to alumni, family, and friends in midtown NYC. The event was sponsored by John Boucher, Bonaventure alum and KPMG partner at the Heritage Training Center on Park Avenue at the KPMG office.

The embrace it Africa team, MBA student Andrew Mantilia, seniors Erin Danahy, Lindsay Pohlman and Zachary Rodriguez and freshman Lauren Morris, presented their work and progress since the projects beginning last year. Their goal was to provide those who live farther away with information on the Africa project and show what St. Bonaventure students are doing to help those in need. The hour-long presentation included a slideshow of pictures and information and a question and answer session.

The team believes that it was a very successful event and hopes to have similar nights in more cities this spring.

For more information please check out the embrace it Africa website: embraceitafrica.org