Ketevan is 42 years old. She lives in the Akhmeta district of East Georgia with her husband, son, daughter and father, who is provided with a retirement pension.
On several occasions Ketevan has requested a loan from local financial institutions for an agricultural business start-up, but without any success. Her loan requests were always rejected because lack of experience in the business, which is usually demanded by local credit providers. All the family members work hard to improve their living conditions. Ketevan is a worker at the local wine factory and gets a small monthly salary. The family has a plot of land where they grow maize. The crops they harvest are sold locally. Ketevan also has a milk cow, whose milk is used in dairy products. In addition, family members harvest grapes on the family-owned vineyard and produce wine for selling. Ketevan’s husband has a tractor and performs agricultural work on the lands of nearby farmers during tilling season.
Ketevan is now requesting a loan for her agricultural business. The loan program provides businesses with start-up funding to assist the country's rural poor, who do not have access to most credit products as they are regarded as “high risk borrowers” because of their low income. With the loan proceeds, Ketevan would like to purchase a fertilizer spreader. They will install it on the tractor and Ketevan’s husband will be able to serve the local people during fertilizing season as well. He will offer the services to landlords from his village and hopes that the project will be profitable as there is not a tractor with the same equipment in their village. The farmers will pay a service fee and this will significantly increase their family's income and will enable Ketevan to provide better living conditions for her family.