Greetings lenders!
My name is Meagan Sutton, and I have been a Kiva Fellow based in Samoa since February 2013. Immediately upon my arrival, the destruction of December 2012’s cyclone Evan was evident around the city of Apia and in the stories of South Pacific Business Development clients. While I was riding to my homestay in my first few days, I saw cars still overturned and strewn about a major site of flooding that had been exacerbated by water pipes broken by the storm.
Since coming to Apia, I’ve seen the city and the island of Upolu slowly come back to life. This past weekend saw the re-opening of the one movie theater in the country, and the Siva Afi performance group for children performing Polynesian fire arts and dances was finally able to revive its performance space within the last few weeks. However, many businesses still remain closed, awaiting necessary repairs and reconstruction.
SPBD itself had been seriously flooded and the office has since moved to a less vulnerable location — a new and very professional office on the second floor of Apia’s newest shopping center.
When traveling into the field, the impact of the cyclone is hard to ignore. I met with numerous SPBD clients and Kiva borrowers who shared with me that their crops were damaged in the cyclone and are still re-growing — taro appears to be the most resilient crop, still producing enough to meet demand. However, only in the last few weeks have I seen fruits and vegetables beyond the typical taro and eggplant in the local markets — banana, pineapple, essie, and other crops are finally starting to produce fruit again after being replanted. This is a welcome sight for everyone!
Clients have told me that their crops are slowly coming back thanks to hard work and patience, as some popular items such as bananas take 3 to 6 months to regrow. However, the spirit of these women business owners remains strong — they remain hopeful and eager to get their businesses back on track and have accepted the cost of time as part of life in the south Pacific.
Other business owners were not affected by the cyclone and have shared their successes with me with pride. Suiti (pictured), winner of SPBD’s 2012 Businesswoman of the Year award, not only sells ice pops, popcorn and other foods at a canteen near village schools, her loans have helped her start and grow a taxi business — her husband is the driver. She spoke to me with pride as she leaned on the car they now own and use for taxi services.
In another part of the country, borrower Rosalina runs a sewing and mending business. I sat in her home among other members of her family as they cared for a young infant (her great grandchild!). On the other side of the domicile was her sewing corner where she did most of her work. However, she was delighted to show me how her loan was being used to construct a storefront attached to her home so she can cater to her village more effectively and have a separate space for her sewing business. No longer would she need to share the one-roomed house with a large and bustling family -- she would soon have her own space for her business!
Wherever I traveled, I heard many stories like these about the positive impact of SPBD on women business owners in Samoa. But microfinance in Samoa is not without its challenges, mostly the need for financial literacy education.
Midway through my fellowship, I watched the SPBD Center Managers begin implementing a new Financial Literacy Training Program (FLP) with all clients, teaching them how to maintain weekly records of spending and earnings, how to calculate profits and income, and how to determine how much to set aside for savings. This is particularly challenging as there is strong pressure in the villages of Samoa to give money to the churches, family affairs (which tend to be very expensive) and village funds (which act as a local tax). While these entities provide useful and critical services to Samoans, some church expectations for giving have recently become controversially high.
It becomes easier to assess how much is available for these funds with increased financial literacy. I asked one woman if she had taken away anything positive from her FLP training. She told me she realized she was giving more to the church than she had in net income each week, which helped her realize she needed to scale back her church donations so that she could begin to save money. SPBD’s FLP training may address some difficult and culturally sensitive issues, but has the potential to transform how SPBD clients think about managing their business and household finances.
Overall, I leave Samoa impressed with the sizeable and visible impact South Pacific Business Development has had on so many households in Samoa. SPBD is currently present in every village in the country — a testament to the trust the community has in the organization to provide them access to finance. I look forward to seeing the new ways SPBD will serve the South Pacific community as it introduces new loan products and mobile technology tools!
Best wishes,
Meagan Sutton, Kiva Fellow
Samoa