Make a Microfinance Donation Today: Help A Family in Senegal Lift Themselves Out Of Poverty
One of humanity’s most beautiful facets is the innate drive to be a productive member of society. Your donation will create a lasting impact and positive change in the life of an individual or an entire family.
Microfinance donations create a life-changing opportunity for families and communities in Senegal. In the United States, $100 may help you purchase a nice dinner at a restaurant. In Senegal, $100 can allow someone like El Hadj Ndao to earn a living selling used clothes in a city market.
With 47% of Senegalese families living below the poverty line, your microfinance donation has the potential to change lives, no matter the size. Keep reading to learn how your microfinance donation can lift up an entire family, contributing to better and more productive communities in Senegal.
What Is a Microfinance Loan?
Microloans are a type of financial assistance used to help entrepreneurs and small businesses that lack access to traditional banking. This limited access to financial resources is linked to poverty and systemic inequality. More than 1.7 billion people globally—over 31% of adults—are classified as “unbanked,” meaning they have few or no options for managing their finances.
This number is even higher in Senegal, where 44% of the population lacks access to financial services like banks or credit unions.
Friends of Senegal’s microfinance program allows borrowers like El Hadj to obtain small loans from $100 to $600 at zero interest rates. Only after completing a business program that teaches the borrowers basic entrepreneurial skills and helps them develop their business plans can they be granted a loan.
With your help, we can expand our program and make an even greater difference for more families and communities in Senegal.
Why Make a Microfinance Donation Vs. Another Donation
Microfinance offers vital financial services that have a chance to make a lasting impact on the lives and economic landscape of Senegal and its poorest and most vulnerable people. In Senegal, more than 47% of people live below the poverty line, and 75% of families suffer from chronic poverty. These millions of women and men are not considered valuable clients by traditional banks and, therefore, lack access to financial aid provided by these institutions.
The average middle-earning American donates around $737 to various charities annually.
While this may only seem like a drop in the bucket, this amount of money in Senegal, coupled with the hands-on assistance provided by Friends of Senegal and its partner, Maison de la Gare, can make it possible to start a business and go from $500 annual income to $2,000 or more. This increase in income means more nutritious food for the family, and school supplies can be purchased, which will allow a child to go to school and stimulate the vision of a better life for everyone in the family. It doesn’t end there: more successful families eventually means more successful communities.
By allowing individuals to contribute small amounts, microfinance donations can democratize charitable giving, allowing anyone to make a difference, no matter how small or big the donation.
Compared to a traditional charitable donation, your microfinance program donation can:
- Allow individuals to receive help while also maintaining their dignity: over 97% of our borrowers repay their loans on time and in full, making it possible to loan the same funds over and over again, helping more and more families move from poverty to self-sufficiency.
- Influence higher likelihood of real and lasting impact on the lives of families and communities.
- Promote innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership.
- Stimulate economic growth and improve recipients’ lives long-term (whereas most charitable donations only provide temporary relief.)
- Helps community members gain financial skills and literacy, which they then pass on to their children and others in the community. Being able to envision a better life is infectious!
How Your Microfinance Donation Will Impact Senegalese Communities
Stories of how our program has changed the lives of its participants can be heard throughout Saint-Louis and Senegal. But with your help, we can do even more.
Aliou Kande
Aliou Kandé was determined to provide a good life for his wife and two young children. He is quick to tell anyone his plans to someday, in his own words, “become a great businessman.” We believe he may indeed reach his goal!
With the help of a microfinance loan, Aliou was able to purchase more inventory to sell from his kiosk, increasing his monthly earnings from about $77 to $140 — an 80% increase!
Aliou greets every customer with a warm smile and a cold drink of water, then asks, “How are you? And how is your family?”.
Aliou’s kiosk currently offers traditional grocery goods, sweets, bags of ice, bottles of cold water, and many small useful items to his neighborhood’s residents. We feel that this is only the beginning for Aliou.
With more donations, Aliou can receive more loans, expand his business, and invest in the local economy as he hires other community members and buys more products from his peers.
Astou and M Seck
Astou and M. Seck have converted their in-town property into a true animal farm. They combine their animal husbandry knowledge to form a dynamic duo. Astou raises chickens, and M raises cows and sheep. With their dedication and perseverance, they are well on their way to providing essential services and goods for their community and families while planning to start a family together.
Astou and M. Seck, 37 and 45 years old, respectively, are progressive thinkers in their business and personal partnerships. They respect each other’s skills and contributions to the family’s needs and dreams. Astou says with pride and good humor that his wife is courageous and a tenacious fighter. Then, with a warm smile, he adds that he is her “secretary.”
Microfinance donations from generous donors like you will give this charming couple, and others like them, the opportunity to help them achieve their dreams of entrepreneurial success.
Ibrahima Coulibalyly
Thirty-one-year-old Ibrahima Coulibaly is an energetic young entrepreneur whose charisma bubbles out through his work and palpable excitement for providing “everything” for his customers. His wife and two young children are clearly fascinated by their father’s entrepreneurial spirit and dedication, and he is determined to improve their lives.
In addition to melons and chickens, Ibrahima buys large quantities of coal, straw, and other types of animal food, which he then sells in small amounts to buyers who live in his “quartier,” or neighborhood.
Through our microfinance loan program, Ibrahima’s income has increased by 44%, from 125,000 CFA (about $190) to 180,000 CFA ($275) monthly. This revenue will continue to increase dramatically as his chickens mature to selling age.
Like many other of our borrowers, Ibrahima paid off his first loan before the due date and then received a second loan to buy even more diverse products for his customers. Recently, he hired an assistant, Aliou Ghatta Faye. Ibrahima and Aliou are another example of how microfinance loans and business training grow the economic wealth of not only a single business but entire neighborhoods and communities.
Why You Can Trust Your Microfinance Donation With Us
Friends of Senegal (FOS) is an Oregon-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is not affiliated with any governmental or religious group. We are delighted to offer you the opportunity to make a donation and help lift a budding entrepreneur out of poverty. Because FOS is an all-volunteer organization, 100% of your donation goes directly to the work being done in Saint-Louis, Senegal.
Your Microfinance Donation Goes Toward A Systematic, Vetted Process With a 97% Plus Repayment Rate
Like loan committees at traditional banks, the Friend of Senegal’s and Maison de la Gare’s in-country microfinance committee is strongly committed to finding qualified, eager borrowers who know what type of business they want to start, a business based on their previous experience.
The Sénégal team helps the potential borrower flush out the details of their initial ideas, complete a marketing study, and, after gathering the cost of goods and competitive sales prices, put together a financial pro forma for their proposed business.
After successfully reimbursing their first loan, the borrower is eligible for a second loan, which is in an amount more than the first loan and often includes hiring someone to help in the business, thereby helping the local economy beyond the individual borrower.
The tireless commitment of our volunteers, program participants, and generous contributions from donors like you has led to a 97% plus repayment rate from all borrowers who have participated in our microfinance program’s history.
Your Donation May Seem Small To You, But Here’s How Your Microfinance Donations Can Help
It can be challenging to imagine the impact that your donation can make on a family living far below the poverty line in a developing country like Senegal. In fact, you might spend more on dinner in a nice restaurant than what it takes to help a family help themselves by starting a small business. Allow us to provide a little more perspective:
- $100: Made it possible for El Hadj Ndao to sell used clothes in the City Market.
- $200: Adama Barry opened a kiosk near a school where she offered children’s snacks.
- $300: Fatou Ndèye continues the family tradition of selling dried seafood products to her community from her home.
- $400: Mariama Diablo sells locally grown fruits and vegetables from her town square kiosk.
- $500: Oumar Ba opened a 5-table restaurant and profited enough to hire and train an assistant chef. He then took out a second loan to open a second restaurant in another part of town.
- $600: Babacar Diop raises chickens to sell to neighbors and local restaurants when they are mature.
- $1,000: Will allow FOS and MDG to provide entrepreneurial business classes for six months!
- $2,500: A full scholarship will be granted to a university student who volunteers for one month in the microfinance program. Living with their Senegalese host family and working with the community will guarantee that the student’s perspective on life and how to best help others will never be the same.
- $5,000: Will cover the microfinance program’s Senegalese overhead expenses for almost a year.
- $25,000: Will provide the opportunity to make a giant leap forward with our lending program. To thank generous donors who make significant contributions, we will offer you an unforgettable experience in Saint-Louis, where you will:
- Witness firsthand how we put your money to work by meeting borrowers and getting to know their personal stories.
- Stay 4 days and 5 nights in Saint-Louis free of charge in an excellent hotel in the charming former French colonial section of Saint-Louis.
- See many other aspects of Maison de la Gare’s important and inspiring humanitarian work, such as Sports, Health Care, Education, Child Care, etc.
- Enjoy local and French dining and be given a guided tour of the city, including a visit to Guet Ndar, one of Africa’s most famous fishing villages.
Help Us Grant More Loans in 2025 With Your Thoughtful Donation
As of December 2024, Friends of Senegal and Maison de la Gare have granted over 200 zero-interest loans. None of this could be possible without the generous contributions of donors and the hard work of the microfinance team and volunteers.
But together we can do a lot more!
We have the capacity to immediately double the number of loans that we are providing to qualified borrowers. Doing this will forever transform the lives of many more people in Senegal. And it will be thanks to you!
There are many ways to support Friends of Senegal in our mission to lift the poorest and most vulnerable people out of poverty. You can become a change agent by making a financial donation, no matter the amount.
In addition, you are up for a life-changing adventure; our partner, Maison de la Gare, will welcome you as a volunteer or intern. Whether you spend two weeks or two months in Saint-Louis (Senegal), you will help others directly and be deeply affected by the experience. You can explore more details about volunteering with Maison de la Gare here, as well as the fees associated with our volunteer program.
