Yes I am working

You may have noticed that few of my posts so far have actually pertained much to what I came to Ecuador to do, namely to research men in microfinance. The reasons for this are as follows: first, the research up to this point simply has not been as interesting (a) as adventures and oddities of life in Ecuador or (b) as I had hoped for. I guess point (a) is to be expected a little, but I had been somewhat disappointed by point (b). The other reason is that it has taken a long time to figure out what end the research was serving.

When we arrived in Latacunga a few weeks ago, the head of the office there told us point-blank that FODEMI prefers not to lend to men, but to lend to their wives instead. Then he gave us quite a bit of evidence as to why they had good reason to operate this way. This all came as a bit of a surprise, seeing as I had been gearing up to study men in microfinance since November.

We went ahead with our interviews in Latacunga and learned a lot about the way a microfinance organization functions. We also found some possible weaknesses in FODEMI's current system. For FODEMI, we have drafted what amounts to a sort of consulting report that we are submitting to them. Hopefully, they will actually use some of our suggestions.

Back in Quito, things started to get more interesting. We had a couple meetings with Jorge Moyano, the CFO of Diners Club here in Ecuador and one of the people behind starting Fundacion Amor y Esperanza's microfinance program. When we first met with Jorge, hardly anything had been planned yet. He and Pancho Sola had met once to discuss the future possibility of a microfinance program. He asked Neil and I to prepare a presentation outlining what we learned at FODEMI and our suggestions for how to start a microfinance program for Amor y Esperanza. Quite an exciting, and daunting, charge to be asked to form the intial ideas for a new microfinance program that was going to be started with the help of numerous bank executives here in Quito. We prepared a presentation and presented to Jorge, who actually thought it was great.

Things really came to a head last night. We met at Jorge's church with him, Pancho and Pity Sola (directors of Amor y Esperanza), the VP of one of Ecuador's larges banks, a local businessman (in the chicken business of all things), and a marketing expert. Throughout the meeting last night, three of the other men gave their short presentations, but Neil's talk was the centerpiece. He did a truly outstanding job, and I think really impressed some people who certainly know many times more about business, banking, aid organizations, and microfinance than we do combined.

Through much debating and discussion, a bare outline for an organization was mostly verbally hashed out. The vision is to create a Christian microcredit organization, based on Biblical principles that will reach out to the poor, Christian and non-Christian alike. There is a lot of work to do before it can get started, but it looks like this is really going to happen. The various businessmen are going to contribute their expertise to starting the organization, and Neil and I are creating a very preliminary business plan. Tons of obstacles remain. One of those is raising startup funds. Jorge though boldly stated that night that this was really not a big problem, as we just all needed to pray and God would provide. I hope so. Also, I ask for your prayers that this organization would be come a reality, that it would get the needed funds, and that it would successfully help people improve their lives here in Ecuador.

God bless.