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With IESC Support, Lebanon Establishes First Microfinance Association
BEIRUT, LEBANON – March 17, 2015 – On January 12, Lebanon’s…
Beating the Competition
With access to capital, a Lebanese farmer watches his business grow
Badr is a 48-year-old father of six, is a Lebanese farmer who has grown and marketed organic vegetables in Akkar, North Lebanon for the past 25 years.
Due to political instability and recent bad weather conditions, it was becoming more difficult for Badr to sustain and grow his operations. Additionally, Badr was having increasing difficulty to channeling and distributing his harvest while competing with cheaper products from other markets.
Badr applied for a loan from the USAID-funded Lebanon Investment in Microfinance Program partner Vitas and obtained $2,300. Using the loan, Badr purchased plant nurseries for the coming season and built greenhouses. This has enabled him to diversify his products and increase his output. The greenhouses provide his customers with a diverse and steady quality of vegetables throughout the season.
Badr employed his son to support the greenhouses' increased production. As a result of investing in greenhouses, the quality of his products improved which helped him market his organic vegetables. At the end of the second year, Badr's monthly sales increased by 30 percent and the loan increased his monthly income by an additional $300. Badr pointed out that 'the loan helped me increase profit which has resulted in improving my family's livelihood.' He deeply benefited from the investment and is considering applying for another loan to expand his business further.
The Lebanon Investment in Microfinance Program is awarded through the Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance and funded by USAID. IESC implements the program in country.
November 4, 2013/by actualize studioBadr is a 48-year-old father of six, is a Lebanese farmer who has grown and marketed organic vegetables in Akkar, North Lebanon for the past 25 years.
Due to political instability and recent bad weather conditions, it was becoming more difficult for Badr to sustain and grow his operations. Additionally, Badr was having increasing difficulty to channeling and distributing his harvest while competing with cheaper products from other markets.
Badr applied for a loan from the USAID-funded Lebanon Investment in Microfinance Program partner Vitas and obtained $2,300. Using the loan, Badr purchased plant nurseries for the coming season and built greenhouses. This has enabled him to diversify his products and increase his output. The greenhouses provide his customers with a diverse and steady quality of vegetables throughout the season.
Badr employed his son to support the greenhouses' increased production. As a result of investing in greenhouses, the quality of his products improved which helped him market his organic vegetables. At the end of the second year, Badr's monthly sales increased by 30 percent and the loan increased his monthly income by an additional $300. Badr pointed out that 'the loan helped me increase profit which has resulted in improving my family's livelihood.' He deeply benefited from the investment and is considering applying for another loan to expand his business further.
The Lebanon Investment in Microfinance Program is awarded through the Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance and funded by USAID. IESC implements the program in country.
Better Data, Bigger Impact
Joseph Brett recounts time in Ukraine
November 1993. I stood at the apex of the Vietnam Memorial with former communist leaders from Kharkov, Ukraine, our faces reflected against the names of the dead etched forever into the polished black granite walls. Most everyone is moved by the memorial, and we were no exception.
We had hand-picked this delegation of 10 government administrators from Kharkov earlier in the year. My title was project manager for the International Executive Service Corps, a not-for-profit company that had a no-bid contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development to deliver technical consulting services in public administration to countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
The U.S. had not foreseen the collapse of the Soviet Union and was eager to get Americans in there. My project was one of the quickest to respond, and I was under some pressure to deliver.This delegation was one that I will never forget.
We started with a four-day tour of Washington. The delegates would then go on for six weeks immersion in American governance in Cincinnati, Ohio, the U.S. Sister City of Kharkov.
The Vietnam Memorial was in context with discussions we had in Kharkov a few months earlier. It turned out most of us were veterans. And so discussions of past wars and foreign policies, that included perspective of former enemies, provided wonderful conversations that evoked the hope that with the fall of the Soviet Union, wars would soon be ending.
Two of these delegates were well-known theoretical nuclear physicists. I was told that they had listened to Radio Free Europe and the BBC over the past many years and would sit together, as scientists and friends, to compare accounts with what Pravda was telling them. Turns out I was the first westerner they met who could substantiate their suspicions.
The first day of our program in D.C., we met in the offices of Sen. John Glenn where the physicists and the senator discussed how to remove nuclear weapons from Ukraine.
Read the rest of this story in the Watertown Daily Times...
May 14, 2015/by actualize studioNovember 1993. I stood at the apex of the Vietnam Memorial with former communist leaders from Kharkov, Ukraine, our faces reflected against the names of the dead etched forever into the polished black granite walls. Most everyone is moved by the memorial, and we were no exception.
We had hand-picked this delegation of 10 government administrators from Kharkov earlier in the year. My title was project manager for the International Executive Service Corps, a not-for-profit company that had a no-bid contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development to deliver technical consulting services in public administration to countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
The U.S. had not foreseen the collapse of the Soviet Union and was eager to get Americans in there. My project was one of the quickest to respond, and I was under some pressure to deliver.This delegation was one that I will never forget.
We started with a four-day tour of Washington. The delegates would then go on for six weeks immersion in American governance in Cincinnati, Ohio, the U.S. Sister City of Kharkov.
The Vietnam Memorial was in context with discussions we had in Kharkov a few months earlier. It turned out most of us were veterans. And so discussions of past wars and foreign policies, that included perspective of former enemies, provided wonderful conversations that evoked the hope that with the fall of the Soviet Union, wars would soon be ending.
Two of these delegates were well-known theoretical nuclear physicists. I was told that they had listened to Radio Free Europe and the BBC over the past many years and would sit together, as scientists and friends, to compare accounts with what Pravda was telling them. Turns out I was the first westerner they met who could substantiate their suspicions.
The first day of our program in D.C., we met in the offices of Sen. John Glenn where the physicists and the senator discussed how to remove nuclear weapons from Ukraine.
Read the rest of this story in the Watertown Daily Times...
IESC Supports USAID DFC Partner Bank to Expand its Reach to the Agriculture Sector
IESC F2F Volunteers Support Amana Bank to Target Needs of Agricultural…
December 16, 2022/by Erin SuarezEmpowering Youth to Make Positive Change Across North Macedonia
Through the USAID Youth Actively Create Opportunities Activity…
September 5, 2024/by Joanna KalenieckaSusan Eisenhower
'The establishment of the International Executive Service Corps in 1964 came when an anxious world was divided by a Cold War between conflicting philosophies: the capitalism of the West and the communist economies of the Soviet Union. Despite the dynamic changes that have taken place over the past 50 years, IESC has remained unwavering in its belief that private enterprise builds political stability, prosperous communities and sustainable economies. I want to congratulate the men and women of IESC for 50 years of helping entrepreneurs bring prosperity and stability to developing nations that are working to gain their footing in the global community."
June 4, 2014/by actualize studio