Do you ever wonder how Fleet Rotary use the donation you might have made recently? For example, who benefitted from the kind amounts you and others dropped into Rotary collection buckets at Christmas?
Between 2014 and 2019 Fleet Rotary provided £1,600 for microloans through Lendwithcare. They receive monthly updates on repayments from the entrepreneurs they chose to support. After repayment the money is recycled to provide further loans to more entrepreneurs, effectively providing capital of around £5,000. So far Fleet Rotary has made 50 loans helping 386 entrepreneurs and 1,299 family members. In addition, 94 jobs have been created.

Fleet Rotary uses a tiny proportion of the money donated to make a big difference to a number of communities around the world through microfinance loans organised by Lendwithcare, an initiative of CARE International UK .  Microfinance refers mainly to the provision of small loans for poor and low-income clients.

 Lendwithcare brings together entrepreneurs in developing countries with people with the power to help them - people like you. Whether it's opening a market stall, or perhaps a small tailoring business, or diversifying the crops they grow, people across the developing world are bursting with business ideas – all they need is a helping hand to get started. It’s simple, entrepreneurs approach a Lendwithcare partner and if their ideas show promise, they get the go-ahead for the loan they need to get their business going. The entrepreneurs pay back their loan by instalments. To date none of the entrepreneurs selected by Fleet Rotary have defaulted on their payments

Here’s how a loan of £150 from your donations, contributed to a loan totalling £2,923 which helped a member of the Madalitso group of entrepreneurs in Zambia’s Lilongwe district. The group is made up of 17 members, all married women. Between them, they have 42 children and also care for 4 orphans. They run small businesses in order to sustain their families. Patricia is a member of the group. She is 29 years of age, married, has 3 children and also looks after 1 orphan, 1 relative and 1 other person. Her husband runs his own business. Patricia sells clothes. She wanted to purchase a bale of second hand clothes with the loan requested. The proceeds from the business allowed her to pay school fees for her children and provide food for her family. She has been running her second hand clothes business for 5 years and her goal is to complete educating her children. 

 
Fleet Rotary President Malcolm Inglis said ‘This is Rotary at its best, making small donations to kick start projects to allow people to provide a better standard of living for their families and to become useful members of their communities. This would not be possible without support from our local community. Thank you.’