Aigul A., 51, is the treasurer of this group. She is involved in the production of national items such as clothing, souvenirs and blankets. Now, looking back at how she started and the stages she has gone through, Aigul realizes how far she’s come. Her business made its first steps in 2007, when she just gave birth to her daughter and was trying to figure out how she could make money while staying at home with two kids. Aigul was inspired by her baby girl, for whom she used to knit woolen socks and sweaters. Sitting for long hours in the evenings, she came up with an idea. What if she tried to sell these items? Aigul thought of potential customers and started offering them her goods. Her husband, who works as a driver in a cement producing plant, was amused by his wife’s talent and creativity. Now her production has moved into bigger items. Three years of creativity and hard work have brought brilliant results. The family could afford to build a brand new house with two bedrooms. The revenue is spent partially on family needs and savings, and some of it is invested back in the business. Aigul requests a loan from Kiva to buy materials for sewing tushaks, special Kyrgyz blankets which are ordered as a dowry for brides.

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Where Did This Loan Come From?

This loan is brought to you by Mol Bulak Finance (MBF), a young and ambitious socially-focused microfinance institution in Kyrgyzstan.

MBF is strongly committed to the principles of sustainable development and upholds the triple bottom line – People (building human capital and taking care of its customers as well as society), Planet (keeping environmentally friendly) and Profit (earning revenue to expand autonomously). MBF is the only Microfinance Institute in Kyrgyzstan that delivers its services to customers 365 days a year. To learn more about MBF and view a video presentation about the organization, please visit: http://www.kiva.org/about/aboutPartner?id=135.

If you would like to support and learn more about Kyrgyzstan and micro-finance in Central Asia, please join our Lending Team - Supporters of Kyrgyzstan - Mol Bulak Finance at http://kiva.org/team/kyrgyzstan. Members will get special updates and news from the Kiva Fellows in Kyrgyzstan and the MBF staff.