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Entrepreneurship
Lift communities out of poverty, one business at a time

IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT MEDA TRUST

Dear MEDA Trust supporters,

Thank you for helping the working poor in Afghanistan and Nicaragua find new roads out of poverty through your sponsorship of microloans.

The creation of MEDA Trust in 2006 provided us a great opportunity to offer supporters like you a chance to become closer to MEDA clients. When we designed MEDA Trust, we wanted to help you engage friends, colleagues and family members – to pass along your faith, values and concern for the poor to your children and grandchildren.

Three years ago, we embarked on the Afghanistan Challenge, where donations to our microfinance work in Afghanistan were matched dollar for dollar by the Government of Canada. You may have noticed that we no longer offer Afghan loans on MEDA Trust. That’s because – thanks to your support – we have met our goal to provide loan capital for microfinance in Afghanistan. That work continues through a group of microfinance banks with which MEDA remains closely connected.

With our commitment in Afghanistan now fulfilled, we had an opportunity to review the feasibility of our MEDA Trust initiative, and have decided to dismantle MEDA Trust effective March 31. Until March 31, you can still visit MEDA Trust to view loans, make new loans to Nicaragua and track repayments. Your donations to date will continue to be used by our partner microfinance institutions to fund new loans.

As the world of microfinance has grown beyond loans to offering savings and other financial services that many in the Western world take for granted, MEDA has broadened its areas of expertise to help financial institutions in developing countries meet the growing needs of their customers, ensuring they have continued access to financial services.

The advent of social media is providing new and exciting ways to engage others – so stay tuned for more information on our changing online landscape! Again, thank you for your continuing support, and your commitment to creating business solutions to poverty.

Allan Sauder
President

Benjamin's Story
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Benjamin's Story

Benjamin Ruiz is an ambitious, hardworking farmer from Leon, Nicaragua. After farming with his father for 20 years, Benjamin decided to start his own farm. He worked hard for many years to grow his business. But without the needed capital, he simply could not find a way to expand.

The future started looking up when Benjamin heard about MiCredito. He soon received a microfinance loan and purchased sesame seed. His crops began to flourish and when he paid the first loan off he received another loan to build his herd of dairy cattle. Today, with the help of MiCredito, Benjamin owns 50 cows, two bulls and 28 calves, while growing successful crops.

Benjamin is proud of what he has accomplished. His four sons and three daughters all have received an education and he speaks of them with great pride - especially the fact that they know how to do manual labor. One of his sons became a lawyer, and he still enjoys working on his father's farm in his spare time.

Thanks to determination, work ethic and loans from MiCredito, Benjamin sees a bright future. "I'm really thankful for MiCredito," he says. "They are very excellent people!"