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Earthquake anniversary webinar
Thanks to everyone who participated in our webinar with Fonkoze leadership, Fonkoze Financial Services CEO Anne Hastings and Fonkoze Director Carine Roenen. Below you'll find the recording of the webinar for those who missed it, as well as more information on the programs mentioned in the call and ways to get involved.
After the call: What you can do
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Spread a message of hope for Haiti to your social network by sharing our Solid Women video (below) and the recording of the webinar (above).
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Make a donation in remembrance of the earthquake. Fonkoze was among the most effective stewards of your money after the earthquake, but the work continues. Your ongoing support of a Haitian institution allows the country to keep making progress.
Other ways to get involved
For the diaspora
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Open a savings account with Fonkoze so that your dollars can support the Haitian economy.
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Send remittances through Fonkoze and receive the best rate.
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Bring your skills and talent to Haiti and work for Fonkoze.
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Tell your friends and family about Fonkoze, Zafen, and help them get involved.,
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Read more about our diaspora services here.
For more information
Fonkoze is Haiti’s largest microfinance institution and, indeed, one of the best known MFIs worldwide for its innovative approaches to reaching the poorest and helping them take the first steps out of poverty. More and more, the microfinance industry is looking to Fonkoze as an incubator of breakthrough approaches that have proven effective in the difficult environment that Haiti represents. As Sam Daley-Harris, Director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign, put it, “Fonkoze is one of those revolutionary institutions proving the nay-sayers wrong and demonstrating that you can reach the poorest in the poorest country in the hemisphere and do so successfully.”
Here are a few of Fonkoze’s achievements since the earthquake:
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Scaled up our 18-month program of accompaniment – Chemen Lavi Miyò (Pathway to a Better Life) – to reach more than 2,500 of the very poorest families in Haiti and provide them with short-term consumption support, savings services, skills training, assets to start a small enterprise, health care support, and very close accompaniment to help them make their first step out of extreme poverty.
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Paid out $178 million in remittances through our country-wide branch network of 46 retail locations
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Provided more than $67 million of loans ranging in size from $25 to $150,000 to our membership nationwide (60,000 members today)
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Launched a KIVA-like website (Zafèn – It’s our business) that links small and medium enterprises in Haiti with Diaspora investors and other friends of Haiti that has motivated more than $1 million in investments and contributions to Haitian SMEs
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Launched an innovative catastrophe micro-insurance solution that paid out almost $2 million in benefits in its first year of covering more than 55,000 Fonkoze borrowers
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Provided training to 60,000 members in risk reduction and disaster mitigation techniques
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Trained 1,800 Center Chiefs (borrowers elected by the borrowers to represent them) in cholera prevention and treatment and provided them with kits of supplies by the end of 2010
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Rebuilt 385 homes for members who lost their homes due to the earthquake
Q & A
Below are the responses to questions that we weren't able to answer during the live webinar.
Can you tell us about the first "class" of CLM partipants...where are some of them now--also were any impacted by the earthquake?
About 70% of them are in Fonkoze solidarity groups and are continuing with their activities. As for the 30%, three of them died, two in Twoudinò and one in Lagonav. I am happy to say that none of them went back to the situation that they were in when they first joined the program. Even those who didn’t meet the graduation criteria at that time have made progress. We are in the process of finding means to do a more in-depth study on their evolution three years after graduation. Since most of them live in areas where the earthquake didn’t cause great damage, they were not affected directly but like many of us here they lost some close relatives and friends to the earthquake. -- Gauthier Dieudonne, Director, Chemen Lavi Miyò.
What is the criteria for one to be a client?
Fonkoze offers multiple loan products to meet the needs of a wide variety of clients and assist them on the Staircase out of Poverty. The criteria for each program or product is different. For instance, in our smallest loan program, Ti Kredi, clients must have no existing enterprise and be women. In our Solidarity lending program, clients must be women, join with four other friends, and have experience in commerce. For our business development loans, clients can be men or women, but must have had their business for a year or more, show 15% collateral, and have a business that can absorb a large loan. -- Anne Hastings, CEO, Fonkoze Financial Services.
In response to the invitation for investments, can you please go over the current investment vehicles or send folks to where they can find information about investing in Fonkoze?
We have various classes of “investments”:
1. Investments in the Fonkoze USA loan fund – These are really loans to Fonkoze USA for one year or longer.
2. First loss loans – This is loan capital provided by a investor who is willing for that capital to absorb some of the loan losses before other investors are exposed. This capital can receive a higher interest rate, but it does need to be long term.
3. Long-term, subordinated debt – We have been paying 5% per year on this type of debt, which must be longer than 5 years and is subordinate to other debt.
4. Equity, both preferred and common shares – These are shares in Fonkoze Financial Services. There is no guarantee of dividends.
5. Certificates of Deposits with us – Interest varies according to the amount and the length of the certificate
Please feel free to contact Anne Hastings at 305.517.5762 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you would like further information.
Our annual report
Learn more about our earthquake response here.
Our Social Performance Report