Ashley Peterson -- Spring 2013

The work here in Ghana has been moving along nicely. After meeting and interviewing with all of our potential loan candidates, we took on the difficult task of selecting our final loan recipients. It was hard to disqualify applicants that could obviously use the money, but their business plans are not quite up to par. Even though working within the budget was difficult, we ended up being grateful for some boundaries when selecting our recipients.

After selecting the loan recipients we started working hard on submitting loan applications that show how the recipient will use the loan and how the loan will profit them. These reports were very interesting to put together.  It is amazing to me how much a little can help change and improve these individuals’ lives.

Our loan recipients this semester are involved in a number of different businesses. We are funding cocoa farmers, provision stores, a hair dresser, and a number of food vendors. Funding the cocoa farmers during the spring is the only time to fund them, as the spring is where the majority of their expenses are incurred. It has been fun to learn about the cocoa industry and work with the farmers in our classes.

Meeting with some of our cocoa farmers. 

We are planning on funding our loan recipients this next week. The time here in Ghana has flown by, it does not seem like we have been here for over two months now. The things that we have learned during our time here will stay with us forever. 

Dustin Evans - Spring 2013

Greetings from Ghana!

The past week has been a busy one. Since our classes have ended we have been performing due diligence on requested loans and speaking with Douglas about what his thoughts are on our students. Wednesday afternoon all of the students from Ekorso, Akwadum, and Wekpeti came to have an interview with Stephen Sr. and Douglas. Stephen took the lead in the interviews and helped us to understand whether the individual was a serious applicant or not. His experience in interviews, knowledge of various businesses, and honesty with each applicant he interviewed was a huge help and his contribution cannot be overstated.

All of the interns agree that narrowing down our classes and deciding which people to fund has been the most difficult part of our time in Abomosu thus far. Between classes, helping with homework, and interviewing each candidate we have grown to appreciate each individual we work with and how much effort they put into the SEED program. Some have lost businesses due to life events. Others pay creditors obscenely high interest rates so they can purchase items to run their business. All have a hope that being educated in sound business practices will help them improve the way they do business and thus the quality of their lives.

Reviewing business plans with students in Ekorso

Rachel Drollinger - Spring 2013

This past week we wrapped up classes in Akwadum, Wekpeti, and Ekorso!  Due to a large number of applicants and small amount of funds, we wanted to ensure that we had time to spend with each student one on one prior to the character interviews we will be completing this week.  This was very helpful in realizing each students needs individually and clarifying their ability to contribute funds and the assistance they needed from SEED.

Akwadum Class (Karson and Chelsea)

Wekpeti Class (Dustin, Ashley, and Rachel)

Ekorso Class (Dustin, Ashley, Rachel, and Douglas)

 I am teaching with Dustin and Ashley in Wekpeti and Ekorso.  In Wekpeti, there are primarily cocoa farmers but also about four women that have various businesses.  As next month is the time that all of the cocoa farmers use fertilizer for the year we are finding it especially important to fund these farmers in the Spring opposed to any other time of the year. In Ekorso, this is all of the students second time in the class.  These students have a wide variety of businesses ranging from fish selling to salons to school supplies.  We are now ready for a week of due diligence and character interviews starting tomorrow before making the final decisions of who to fund. 

While we have been here in Abomosu we have had the opportunity to do a lot of service whether it be at the primary school, high school in Kwabene, health clinic, or others.  At the primary school we are each assigned to a level (grade) to assist the teacher or help teach.  The teachers have begged us to come often because having a white man at the school encourages the children to all come.  I teach in level 4 and it is always fun to see the children smiling when we come and to see them outside of school as well.  Being that most parents do not speak English, read or write any language, the English the children are speaking at school is only at school.  It makes it hard for the students to actually progress in learning.  However, it is my hope that with each generation the literacy and especially that of English will improve little by little even “out in the bush”.

We are looking forward to another week here in Ghana, as well as the water and power coming back!

Coco Farmers

Did you know?

Ghana is the second largest producer of cocoa world wide.

In Ghana all cocoa produced is required to be sold to the government.  The government buys the coco at a fixed rate which is adjusted yearly, currently the rate is roughly $100 per bag.  Each acre costs around $150 to farm and yields 8 to 10 bags of Cocoa.

Below are a few coco farmers who have maintained a successful farm and were approved additional credit for further business expansion.

Doe Richard

Doe is married with four children and owns 10 acres of land that he uses for coco farming.

Stephan Asiedu

Stephan is married with eight children and owns 12 acres of land that he uses for coco farming.

Isaac Osei Owusu

Isaac is married with five children and owns 12 acres of land that he uses for coco farming.

Charles Boafo

Charles is married with seven children and owns 12 acres of land that he uses for coco farming.

Cosmos Oduro

Cosmo is married with four children and owns four acres of land that he uses for coco farming.

George Obeng

George owns two acres of land that he uses for coco farming.

Solomon Kesse

Solomon is married with two children and owns four acres of land that he uses for coco farming.

Chelsea Anderson - Ghana Spring 2013

Akwaaba!  We send our greetings from here in Abomosu. This week has been a very great week for our classes and this upcoming week should be just as good. In the three classes that we are teaching first time students,  we will be wrapping up teaching phase two this week. Which is exciting news because now we get to start working on the loan application process with these students. Throughout this week we will be working to finish up each individual's business plans. Last week we taught our students how to project their expenses and how to find their own variable and fixed costs. Now this week we will be focusing on projecting their businesses revenue. It is so interesting to work with all our students individually. Sometimes it can be hard to rely so much on a translator, but by now the language barrier is not as daunting. Our translators translate for free and on their own time, so we are very appreciative of the work they do for us. 

Karson and I have been working this semester on doing second time loans in Asunafo, which has been a new experience. Being second time students we don't require them to go through the whole course again, so for three weeks we taught phase three, and then over the past two weeks we have been meeting individually with the ten students. Out of the ten students, seven are cocoa farmers. Through our research and meetings with them, we have discovered it cost around 300 cedis (150 dollars) to harvest one acre of cocoa. This includes the fertilizer, weedicide, pesticide, and labor. When we first met with the farmers, we were so shocked at the amount of money they were requesting for their farms. On average each farmer was asking for 1500 to 2000 cedis (750 to 1000 dollars). After further discussing their costs, we discovered the reason for them asking for so much. They explained that there are agriculture banks here that loan to the cocoa farmers, not in terms of money, but in terms of the products they need for the farming. Then at the end of their harvest, they pay back their "loan" in cedis. However, these banks charge outrageous interest on their loans. For example, one of our students received about 800 cedis worth of materials, and at the end of his harvest eight months later he paid back 1800 cedis. It is discouraging to see how hard these cocoa farmers work, and then they can't even make a decent profit. Our seven cocoa farmers were hoping that they could borrow all from us this year instead of using  both SEED and these agriculture banks, and that was why they were asking for big loans. We have worked hard with them over the past two weeks to work out a reasonable loan that works best for them and for the SEED program; furthermore, we are excited to be able to fund them this Friday on March 1st. All of our students have paid back their first time loans very well and we have high expectations for them this time around. 

I also have some exciting news! This past weekend we all took a trip down to Cape Coast to stay with some students and friends at the University of Cape Coast. Cape Coast is so beautiful, and the university is right on the beach. I can't imagine going to school there, the beach would be so distracting. While down in Cape Coast a group of ten of us ventured to Kakum National Park. Kakum is very beautiful, it is a natural forest/jungle where you can do a canopy walk 100 feet above the forest. There are a total of seven platforms and then you walk across rope bridges to each platform. This is the exciting part; while we were cautiously walking on the tiny bridges, Karson got down on one knee and proposed to me! It was a complete surprise and I was so worried he would drop the ring as he put it on my finger. It was a wonderful trip, and needless to say, Kakum will always be a special place for us.

January Collection Report

January Collection Report - Wasatch Social Ventures

Summer 2011

The overall collection rate for Summer 2011 loan recipients is 97%.  There were 31 individuals who received loans and 29 of them have paid their loans back in full, all individuals from Abomosu 1, 2, and 3 paid back their loans.   Currently Maragret Agyeiwaa, Martin Obegygi Amaning, George Obeng, Solomon Kesse, and Stephen Asiedu have applied for second time loans and are pending approval. 

Spring 2012

The overall current collection rate for Spring 2012 is 90%.  In spring of 2012 we funded 24 loans in Abomosu and 18 loans in Asunafo.  Of the 42 loans 9 of them have already paid back early and in full, the remaining loans are due in April.  Currently Cosomos Oduro, Doe Richard, Boafo Charles, Isaac Osei Owusu and Ama Amponosah have applied for second loans and George Obeng has applied for a 3^rd loan.  They are pending approval and those that are approved will be funded at the end of February.   In addition to those who paid off their loans and have applied for second time loans, Rosemand Dedaa, Comfort Antwiaa, Solomon Sakkodie and Ernest Doe have also paid back their loans early and in full.   

Summer 2012

The overall collection rate for summer 2012 is 85%.  In the summer of 2012 we expanded into Akwadum and Akokom in addition to funding loans in Abomosu and Asunafo.  A total of 37 people were funded and those individuals funded in the new areas currently have a 100% collection rate.   Stephen Asiedu has applied for his 3^rd loan and pending approval will be funded at the end of February.  In addition to those applying for new loans, Emmanuel Tetteh and Joseph Ofori have also repaid their loans in full. 

In Janaury we funded an additional 3 pods of individuals who passed through the class in summer 2012.  We funded an additional group in Asunafo and two groups in Sankubenase.  We funded a total of 20 additional individuals who will begin to repay their loans at the beginning of March.   

Fall 2012

The overall collection rate for fall 2012 is currently 116%.  In the fall of 2012 we gave loans in two new areas, Akwaduso and Ekorso in addition to Akawadum.  With the expansion into new areas, we also hired Moses, a new loan collector to manage these areas.     

Karson Roberts Spring 2013

This coming Tuesday will make one month in Ghana, time sure has been flying by for us all. We have been staying busy with our classes in Ekorso, Akwadum, Wekpeti and Asunafo . We all have been introduced to a secondary school in Kwabeng and chose to help in the accounting and administration offices. Also, we have started doing service at the local health clinic here in Abomosu checking blood pressure, organizing files and helping them catch up on their records.

We have been really impressed with the attendance of our classes, especially with our new Wekpeti class with a class attendance of 30. It sure has been an experience working with the translators and not knowing if the message has been relayed accurately.  However, to our surprise, the homework completion has been very well, which gives us great hope for our classes. We currently have collected business plans from Ekorso, Akwadum, and our second time loan applicants in Asunafo.

Ashley mentioned in her last post that we were all trying to get into the African mind set. She wasn't kidding either, as we have attended traditional weddings, rode in trotros and eaten the Ghanaian fufu, Which personally is my favorite! I would have to say we all are pretty amazing dancers as we preformed the Macarena as the guests of honor at the traditional wedding. The girls did so well that Ashley and Chelsea were asked to compete in a dance off with two other relatives of the groom.