Kiva conducts regular, ongoing monitoring of all Lending Partners, but only posts status updates here in response to relevant, major changes at the partner.

Status update — February 17, 2021

SMT's final loans with Kiva have ended or defaulted, and this partnership is now closed. For the last 3 years, Kiva has been working with SMT to try to recover the remaining outstanding amounts due to Kiva lenders. Kiva and SMT agreed upon a payment plan in May, 2018, but Kiva only received $19,960 of a total of $39,096.22 of payment commitments made in this plan. In this plan, Kiva agreed to a loss of $20,000 of the original principal due to Kiva lenders to reflect steep currency losses incurred during the period of default and owing to the difficult economic circumstances in Sierra Leone. Kiva’s present assessment is that this Lending Partner is unlikely to make further payments, and thus the remaining $39,163.99 in outstanding amounts due to Kiva lenders has been defaulted. If Kiva is able to recover any additional funds from SMT, they will be applied to lenders' accounts on a pro-rata basis.

Status update — February 22, 2019

As of January, 2019, SMT has $49,116.22 outstanding in Kiva funds. As noted in the preceding update, a portion of lender funds were to be forgiven to reflect severe currency losses SMT sustained during the prolonged repayment period offered to them during the Ebola crisis. Unfortunately, SMT has not honored the repayment agreement signed with Kiva and is now late with two payments of $10,000, which were due in October and December, 2018. One $10K payment which was originally due in July, 2018, was received in December, 2018. Kiva continues to advocate for repayment of lender funds, and will post updates to this page as new information becomes available.

Status update — April 27, 2018

As of April 2018, SMT still owes $59,096 in overdue repayments to Kiva lenders. Since our last update, SMT has remitted a total of $35k to Kiva in repayments and we’re in discussions on the timeframe for them to pay the remaining amount. As part of these discussions, we’re evaluating the amount of FX loss suffered by SMT during the long period their debt has remained outstanding, as there has been significant depreciation of the local currency against the US Dollar. Based on our analysis, we’ll evaluate available options for Kiva to provide some relief to SMT on the outstanding amount. We’re in the final stages of these discussions and will provide an update as soon the final repayment details have been agreed upon.

Status update — January 10, 2017

Following resumption of SMT’s Kiva program in August 2016, Kiva continues to monitor progress of their fundraising activity as well as repayment of the amount owed to Kiva lenders. Since August, SMT has cumulatively raised over $70,000 in loans, most of which has been used to repay overdue balances due to lenders, bringing down their outstanding overdue amount to $64,542, as of the end of December 2016. This is part of a phased repayment plan that Kiva agreed with SMT upon resumption of their fundraising on the Kiva platform. Following this progress and our assessment of liquidity needs at SMT, we've agreed to allow SMT to repay the remaining overdue amount gradually through June 2017. Kiva will continue to monitor SMT’s fundraising progress to ensure that SMT continues to make progress on their repayment plan each month. We thank lenders for their patience and hope they’ll continue to support SMT borrowers in the future.

Status update — July 7, 2016 

In March 2016, Kiva and SMT came to an agreement regarding a phased repayment plan for the amount owed to Kiva lenders, taking into considering SMT’s liquidity situation following the Ebola crisis of 2014. To date, SMT has successfully repaid $40k to Kiva, in accordance with this plan, and the amount has been settled out to lenders. 

SMT will be resuming fundraising for new loans on Kiva in July 2016, nearly 2 years after their Kiva program was suspended due to the Ebola crisis. The decision follows a positive assessment from an onsite monitoring visit by Kiva staff, who travelled to visit SMT in May 2016. From the visit, we ascertained that SMT’s lending program is now fully back on track and requires additional funding to meet rising demand for capital from borrowers, in particular from their clients whose businesses were severely affected by the economic crisis arising from Ebola epidemic. 

With resumption of Kiva funding, Kiva expects that the cumulative amount collected by SMT from Kiva borrowers during the inactive period will eventually be repaid to lenders in full. 

We thank lenders for their patience and support of SMT and other West African partners affected by this crisis, and hope they’ll continue to support SMT borrowers in the future. 

Status update — February 2, 2016

As of January 2016, Kiva has finalized with the reconciliation exercise whose goal was to determine the status of all outstanding Kiva loans in the books of SMT. Based on this information, we have determined the outstanding amount that SMT owes Kiva lenders from loans repaid by Kiva borrowers but not remitted to Kiva during the grace period. Unfortunately, a number of loans were identified as irrecoverable and have already been written off by the Lending Partner, and will therefore be defaulted on Kiva and respective lenders updated accordingly.

For the amount collected by SMT but yet to be remitted back to Kiva lenders, we have agreed on a phased repayment plan, taking into account the financial needs and cash flow position of the organization. We expect the first $20k to be sent to Kiva before the end of February 2016 and settled out to lenders in March, and we’ll continue to work with this partner to recover any additional amounts owed to lenders that was repaid by SMT borrowers. 

Status update — August 6, 2015

The repayment grace period for Lending Partners affected by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa concluded at the end of May 2015. Kiva has started the process of establishing the status of all outstanding Kiva loans made through these partners. The goal is to identify the actual amounts repaid by Kiva borrowers to the partner during the grace period, identify loans that have since become delinquent and require rescheduling of original repayment terms, as well as those that will be defaulted or written off. Once Kiva has more complete information on the status of the Lending Partner's portfolio we'll provide that information here.

Status update — March 10, 2015

Kiva is extending the existing grace period for Lending Partners impacted by the Ebola outbreak until the end of May 2015. This will allow the partners time to carry out comprehensive audits of their operations, and to share information with Kiva on outstanding loans and their plans going forward.

Salone Microfinance Trust (SMT) operates in Sierra Leone, one of the countries in West Africa that was most affected by the Ebola outbreak. As a result, SMT had to close some of their branches and suspend disbursement of loans last year. The organization has now resumed regular operations and plans to being making payments to Kiva in March. They also hope to resume posting new loans to Kiva this month.

Status update — October 23, 2014

Salone Microfinance Trust (SMT) operates in Sierra Leone, one of the countries in West Africa currently experiencing an Ebola outbreak. This epidemic is the largest in history, claiming thousands of lives and having a deep impact on the national economy. SMT has temporarily stopped funding on Kiva as they respond to this crisis. Learn more about the epidemic here.

Kiva has allowed SMT a 4-month grace period for repayments until the end of 2014, at which time we will reevaluate the situation. The Kiva team is in regular communication with SMT and will provide an update when they resume funding on Kiva.

Partner Description: 

Salone Microfinance Trust (SMT) is an independently run microfinance institution, founded by ChildFund International in Sierra Leone, an affiliate of the international humanitarian aid organization ChildFund International. SMT’s approach of concentrating in ChildFund program communities helps ensure that it reaches vulnerable populations and integrates micro-enterprise development with more traditional ChildFund programs whose focus is the well-being of vulnerable families.

Over the last three years, SMT has become a major participant in the active and progressive microcredit sector in Sierra Leone.

Vision: SMT’s vision is “To be a financially self-sufficient institution, with an outreach that is broad, deep and having a significant impact on the lives of the economically active poor and their families to which it serves”.

SMT's website is http://www.salonemicrofinancetrust.org, and the organization can be contacted via email at reginasulla2000@yahoo.co.uk

   • Support micro-entrepreneurs to strengthen and expand their businesses

   • Assist individuals to create their own livelihoods

   • Help micro-entrepreneurs build their capacity to manage businesses

   • Help create employment in rural areas

   • Recruit and retain committed, honest and qualified staff, who recognize the value of clients needs

   • Increase target areas independence from humanitarian assistance