Here's the letter:
Dear Lender,
Thank you for supporting an entrepreneur in Mexico.
I'm excited to be writing you as the Kiva Fellow in the northern Mexico border region. For the last few months I have been working with Kiva's Field Partner Fundación para la Vivienda Progresiva (FVP), visiting many Kiva entrepreneurs and training FVP staff in writing updates for Kiva lenders.
As you may know, all entrepreneur profiles on Kiva's website are posted by local Field Partners (microfinance institutions) like FVP, which are organizations that lend to the poor for poverty alleviation. In my time here I have had the opportunity to get to know FVP, its staff and its clients. FVP's mission is to improve the livelihood of Mexicans of modest means living near the U.S. border.
But from what I have seen in my time here, FVP's work isn't just about issuing loans. They focus on creating a long-lasting, collaborative relationship with each client to improve the household's standard of living.
When I went out into the field with Mireya, a Loan Officer at FVP, I saw this philosophy in action. When she arrives at a client's home or business, it has the feel of a concerned friend stopping by, not the visit of a financial officer. Even when she talks shop about a loan, she and the client have a relationship that is more collaborative than top-down.
This personal treatment has allowed FVP to build trust with clients like Yolanda Taboada, whose business has gone from a small home grocery into a large neighborhood convenience store in less than a decade. Yolanda's profits have grown 75% since taking her first loan, financing the improvements to her house, paying for her daughter's education, and allowing her to hire an employee at the store. Like
Yolanda, thousands of other households in this region of Mexico count on FVP's collaboration to improve their standard of living.
Over the past two years, FVP has grown because of you - Kiva lenders have supported over 600 borrowers, and this $638,650 has served to expand businesses and improve families' housing conditions across the region. In fact, now with a new office about to open, FVP is expanding its reach to serve even more clients in need.
As I and other FVP staff check in with entrepreneurs, many of you will receive an update on an entrepreneur who received a loan contribution from you. Unfortunately, due to logistical and administrative constraints, reaching every entrepreneur for an update is not possible, even with FVP's dedicated team.
Whether or not we provide an update on an entrepreneur to whom you loaned, I hope that you enjoyed this update on the impact that FVP has had with Kiva funds.
From Kiva, FVP and its family of borrowers, we thank you for your continued support of our work. To see all currently fundraising loans from FVP on Kiva.org, please click here:
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&partner_id=18&status=fundRaising&_te=tfj
Sincerely,
Brendan McBride, Kiva Fellow with FVP
This is great stuff! I'll have to keep an eye on this field partner in particular since they're working near the border. My interest in lending to Mexican entrepreneurs is to reduce the attractiveness of sneaking into this country by Mexicans and others looking for work, which a greater amount of opportunity in Mexico will bring about. This will make it easier for both of our nations to secure our common border against such things as terrorism and drug smuggling. Strengthening the financial health of communities right along the border by building up private enterprise ought to help us to reach that goal.
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