"A hand up, not a handout"

₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪₪

Our Mission Statement

We are a micro-credit organization making small loans to the very poor to use for micro-enterprises or short-term job training, enabling them to lift themselves and others out of the cycle of poverty.  We believe that the principle of lending to the poor has the potential for the eradication of poverty from the earth.  We believe that every individual has the right to self-respect and dignity.  Our company motto is, “A hand up, not a handout”. 

“People have unlimited power within them to make things happen.” – Muhammed Yunus, founder, Grameen Bank

   

Our Business Model

As a micro-credit organization, we raised a small fund of capital (seed money) which we are using to make small loans to individuals or small groups with viable business ideas (micro-enterprises) or for short term training .  The loans are currently being administered by the three directors we appointed before we left South Africa.

Preference is given to individuals living below the United Nations-defined poverty line (currently US$1 per person per day).  They are expected to take the "Self-employment Workshop" course provided by the local Employment Resource Centre.

Our business model is based on ideas we learned at an Economic Self-Reliance conference sponsored by the Centre for Economic Self Reliance in the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah   www.selfreliance.byu.edu.

 

“A true act of compassion does not require the surrender of self-respect in exchange for assistance.   The principle of reciprocity should guide the philanthropic exchange just as it guides exchange in the market place.  People who are constantly on the receiving end, who have never been given the opportunity to reciprocate, will in due time despise not only the gift, but also the gift giver.”   

             Robert L. Woodson, Sr., The Triumph of the Josephs