MICROFINANCE

Poverty is endemic in Kaduna State, with women proportionately worse off due to socio-cultural factors and limited access to resources. In rural communities there are limited off-farm employment or income opportunities. A lack of access to credit and weak enterprise management skills are serious constraints to development. Thus our microfinance services aim to give women and other disadvantaged individuals the finance and skills to obtain and manage income through self-employment.

Our microfinance department is the pillar for all other FF departments as the oldest and core activity of FF. Fantsuam Foundation’s microfinance service began in March 3, 2001 after Kazanka Comfort, FF’s General Secretary, took part in a Grameen Bank training in 2000. What began as a service dispersing funds to 25 women in a village called Kpunyai has grown rapidly to serve 13 chiefdoms in Southern Kaduna and Plateau State: Jema’a, Kurama, Rukuba, Bajju, Kagoma, Kagoro, Fantsuam, Atyap, Kaninkon, Jaba, Maro’a, Numana, and Langai. The estimated population coverage of FF’s current member groups is about 500,000.

Membership in Fantsuam Foundation is open to all women who are residents of chiefdoms where FF operates. Men may become ex-officio members but only women area eligible for elective offices within their respective groups. The women must be members of a recognized “clan group” or rural development organization that wishes to partner with FF. All of FF’s members are rural and more than 90% are poor, with a high proportion illiterate. The principal benefit of membership in FF is access to micro-credit; this valued service has spurred membership growth in recent years.

Our microfinance operations are supported by a 5-year grant from the African Development Fund (ADF). In June 2005, the mid-term evaluation with ADF revealed that FF has disbursed over 54 million naira (> $415,000 USD) in revolving loans to 6,000 women since 2001, with a 98% repayment rate. Our loan capital is also being supported by Partners for Development (PFD), MTN Foundation and individual donations from Nigerians in the diaspora.