Sam Morgan investment backs for microfinance

Sam Morgan investment welcome backing for successful Tongan microfinance organisation

AUCKLAND 8 June 2010: A $700,000 investment by Sam Morgan in a new Tongan microfinance company was an important step in helping more financially disadvantaged people in Tonga start successful small or community-based businesses, its founder said today.

Established last year with the backing of New Zealand businesspeople, South Pacific Business Development Microfinance Tonga Ltd has so far provided mentoring and first loans to over 1400 people who would have been otherwise seen as having insufficient income to access traditional lines of credit, Gregory Casagrande, its founder, said.

“Sam’s investment means we will keep growing even faster and support more people who are putting microfinance to very good use; in many instances in being able to move from poverty to providing new jobs and real economic growth which in turn can be applied to more opportunities for education and improved living standards.

“It also reflects a growing recognition of the real satisfaction that comes from working in this area where the difference a successful microfinance organisation can make is quite tangible,” he said.

Mr Morgan said he was very pleased to be involved in SPBD. The success its founders had shown in Tonga and elsewhere in the South Pacific had shown that microfinance was a sustainable proposition in helping people create new wealth and work their way out of sometimes quite financially poor circumstances, he said.

Mr Casagrande, who is involved with several NZ businesses, set up a similar Samoan microfinance organisation, South Pacific Business Development Samoa, in 2000, that Mr Morgan also supported and which has to date extended loans worth $NZ17 million to 12,000 people and been financially sustainable since 2007.

Loans are used to buy equipment like pumps, stoves or concrete mixers, with successful borrowers then able to access funds for business growth, education and basic housing improvements.

“This success has been a testament to just how much commitment there has been to making their ventures work by our borrowers, as well as proof of what businesspeople coming together can do,” Mr Casagrande said. “We are delighted to have Sam on board.”

Both organisations make loans only to women as this has been found to be generally a successful microfinancing approach.

Welcoming this latest investment, Lorisa Canillas, the General Manager of SPBD Microfinance Ltd of Tonga, said: “Sam’s funding support for SPBD Tonga is a great help for the development of microentrepreneurs in the country.

“I don't think they have received this kind of opportunity before. It is transforming the roles of many women here from being unemployed to running their own businesses, and it’s helping families sustain or grow their own small income-generating activities.

“In the long run, we would like to see these women and their families reduce their poverty or vulnerabilities, and improve their quality of life. Having microfinance available is making a big contribution to achieving this.”

Mr Casagrande said they are now working towards establishing microfinance organisations in Fiji and the Solomon Islands.

ENDS

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