Raisa B. is 50 years old and the leader of this group. She is a resident of a town called Karabalta, which lies on the Chu River in the northern part of Kyrgyzstan and has 70,000 residents. After Raisa got divorced several years ago, she was left with three children and a few heads of livestock that were the only source of income for the household. Now Raisa’s oldest daughter is 24 and lives separately with her own family. The second daughter found employment in a restaurant in the capital. Raisa also has a 14-year-old son who is financially dependent on her and helps with the livestock during his free time from studies.

Raisa has a large household with a dry shed in the back yard. She provides her sheep and cows with as much hay and oat straw as they need. The town is rich with pastures, so the livestock has all it needs for a good health. Raisa inherited the cattle from her parents and plans to leave them to her children too. Recently she resold some of her cattle for a good deal and purchased some furniture for the house. She feels very lucky to have this business, because it helped her during the hardest financial period in her life. Raisa earns 6,800 soms monthly, which she invests back into her business. She gathered this group of entrepreneurs, because each of them needs financial assistance. She plans to spend her part of the loan on purchasing a good carpet for her house.

--- Where Did This Loan Come From? ---

This loan is brought to you by Kiva's partner, Mol Bulak Finance (MBF), a young, ambitious and 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 microfinance 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 Kiva Fellows in Kyrgyzstan and from the MBF staff.