The Life in Africa Foundation Kampala, Uganda

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The Life in Africa FoundationKampala, Uganda

• www.LifeInAfrica.com
• LiA Loan Guarantee Program
• Life in Africa Volunteers
• Pilot Phase Assessment
• The Future of LiA

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www.LifeInAfrica.com

• The Concept
• Promote microfinance in Africa through increased
  understanding of the context
• Connect donors beneficiaries in ways only
  possible through the internet
• Generate revenue to sustain program operations
  through a professional, high traffic web
  presence
• The Medium
• 400 pages of human interest cultural
  entertainment presented through the lens of
  microfinance
• 3 Email Publications generating repeat traffic
  and supporter loyalty
• Online donor report providing donors with a way
  to monitor the impact of funds
• The Pilot Phase Results (site launched in
  February 2000)
• 1,750 weekly visitors (87 Europe/N. America)
• 1,800 email subscribers
• 18,000 raised to support operations
  micro-lending activities

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LiA Loan Guarantee Program

• Objectives
• Provide self-help opportunities to underserved
  segments of the population
• Support innovative microfinance
• Maximize the impact of limited funds
• Methodology
• Loan guarantee agreement with an established
  microfinance institution
• Clients assessed and guaranteed as individuals,
  not groups
• Unconventional target sectors, with a bias toward
  value added and long-term investments.
• Impact (Pilot Phase)
• 200 clients 350 loans
• 50,000 in loan funds disbursed on 7,000 in
  guarantee funds
• 88 recovery and many lessons learned (2001
  recovery at 97)

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Life in Africa Volunteers

• Who they are
• Carefully selected team with complimentary
  strengths skill levels
• Young Ugandan graduates seeking work experience
• Expatriates seeking in-depth cultural experience
• What they give
• Min. 20 hours per week min. 6 month commitment
• Participation in borrower screening and review
• Exchange of computer and administrative
  skills/knowledge in a team setting
• What they receive
• Structured training in microfinance
• On the job and structured training in website
  design and promotion
• Computer/internet literacy training

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Pilot Phase Assessment

• Strengths
• Highly innovative presentation of African content
• Measurable human impact achieved with limited
  resources
• Marketable skills and experience gained by
  volunteers
• Weaknesses
• Anticipated returns on website traffic not
  realized due to changes in the Internet economy
• Dependency on contributed funds limits Loan
  Guarantee Program growth
• Unstable human resource base

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The Future of LiA

• Opportunities
• Expanded e-commerce initiative providing LiA
  borrowers and other small-scale African artisans
  with access to e-commerce facilities.
• Creation of permanent staff positions from
  increased revenues.
• Replication of loan guarantee program in other
  African countries, with sale of locally produced
  artisan products as an integral start-up
  component.
• Threats
• Local infrastructure instability may limit online
  growth.
• Risk that artisans rely on Internet success for
  loan repayment.
• Continued instability of human resources if
  financing for paid staff not obtained.