Growing a business is
hard in Africa. Trust me, I have experienced this first hand as CEO of Zoona
over the past 4 years (Mike’s
Story). There are the day-to-day challenges that businesses everywhere have
to go through – acquiring and retaining customers, hiring good people, managing
a cash flow, and positioning against competitors. But in Africa, raising
finance is a particularly hard challenge to overcome, especially for micro-entrepreneurs.
Take Cosmas for example a Zoona micro-entrepreneur who is in
the business of distributing Coca-Cola products into the informal market
settlements of Ndola, Zambia’s third largest city. In addition to supporting
his family and sending his children to school, his business provides a source
of recurring income to the 150 informal retailers that he supplies daily.
Cosmas’ biggest problem
is accessing growth finance to increase his turnover because his profit margins
are very small. He cannot access a bank loan because of the strict collateral
requirements, and his business cannot sustain more successful microfinance
loans because of the high interest (typically 42% pa in Zambia). His best
alternative is to simply not grow and leave his dreams unfulfilled. As an
entrepreneur, I can tell you there is no worse feeling.
This is why Zoona is so
excited to be the first mobile payments
partner of Kiva. Kiva’s mission is to create opportunities for people like
Cosmas around the world by connecting him to a pool of lenders. Kiva raises over
$1.5m per week for micro-entrepreneurs like Cosmas, which changes their lives.
Right now, Kiva has a
promotion where first time lenders can make a FREE $25 loan to a Kiva borrower.
A Kiva donor funds the loan. All you need to do is to accept my personal invitation.
Then, you can click this
link to search for the Zoona micro-entrepreneurs that are fundraising:
And don’t stop with the
first loan – you’ll find a continuous stream of Zoona micro-entrepreneurs
looking for finance to help grow their business. These micro-entrepreneurs are
the real deal, and we at Zoona are committed to do everything we can to unlock
their growth potential and achieve their goals.
See you on Kiva!
Best,
Mike Quinn
CEO, Zoona
Follow me on Twitter at @ZoonaMike
