Microloan program is opening doors
By Vladimir Shvorin
The Jewish Advocate
May 2, 2008
In 2003, the committee for Post-Soviet Jewry of the JCRC launched a program in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, that they hoped would inspire women to put business plans to action. Jewish Vocational Service became the lead agency in implementing the program, and by 2004 the microenterprise loan program was dolling out funds to applicants.
Known as the Dnepropetrovsk Kehillah Project, the microloan program operates in a bustling city with over a million residents. Unfortunately, the 16 loans the program has given women to-date, which come in denominations up to $5,000, do not have a large-scale effect on the city’s bottom line. But the same can’t be said for the symbolic impact the program has on women in the city, and the benefits to real people being allowed to implement their ideas.
Recipients of the loans have all had ample success with investing in their own business plans and anyone familiar with the program can confirm this with certainty. That is because of the 16 loans that were appropriated, none have been defaulted on. To Penny Garver, senior vice president of Sovereign Bank and JVS board chair that is unheard of in her line of work.
“I think the most remarkable part of this is that none of the loans have gone into default,” she said. “There are a number of loan programs in the world, and not many of them can say that they have a 100 percent repayment rate. Perhaps there isn’t as much determination in other people, as there is with these women. I lend people money with a lot more experience and knowledge of the business than these women.”
Garver has already ventured to Ukraine four times for program-related dealings. The premise behind each trip is to monitor the progress since the one prior. During Garver’s last trip, she visited four loan recipients.
Dnepropetrovsk is a country that Doris Gordon and her husband, Bob are quote familiar with. They first visited Ukraine in 1992. Since then, they’ve made the overseas trip a total of 17 times as members of the Committee for Post-Soviet Jewry. According to Bob, the impact on the specific borrowers has been immense, as seen with Natalyia Alekseiva, a loan recipient that used money to start a budding coffee business.
“Natalyia was telling us about how it changed her life,” Bob said. “She has a special needs child, which is how we got to know her. She said it has changed her whole outlook on life, and she has become very dynamic. That’s why the program is about teaching other people that this is a good thing, and they shouldn’t be afraid of it.”
Garver was also aware of Alekseiva’s story. From a financial standpoint, her story is probably just as inspiring.
“[Alekseiva] started a distribution business for coffee and pasta, and this loan allowed her to bring in the goods,” Garver explained. “She added a new line of business with a second loan that allowed her to grow fresh vegetables, which she’s been able to sell. She has a limited ability to earn money, but through this program, she’s become self-sufficient. She’s also somewhat of a model to other women in the situation.”
One of the main areas of concern to the microloan program is the lack of volunteerism in Ukraine, as Doris explained.
“Volunteerism isn’t something that the former Soviet Union is really familiar with,” she said. “We have created a lay board where people can become better acquainted with volunteerism. We try, here in Boston, not to interfere with their decision-making [in Ukraine]. We don’t pick the people- it’s the local people there, in the Jewish community that are choosing the loan recipients. All of this is done in Russian, over there.”
Bob added that the guidelines and process for becoming a loan recipient may be too strict, even.
“I think they’re being very careful- they know the people they’re lending too,” he said. “Perhaps, they’re being too careful. We would like them to give out more loans.”
