“I have many business ideas, I’m just crippled by my finances”. These words from Mr Duncan Boaben very much reflect the concerns of residents in the Ekumfi–Ekotsi community in Cape Coast, Ghana.
The LSE Microfinance Brigade is a brigade consisting of undergraduate and graduate students who are prepared to offer voluntary microfinance services and increase financial access to members of Ekumfi–Ekotsi, a community largely dominated by male farmers who fall through the nets of typical Microfinance services.
As with all Microfinance brigades, we would be providing poverty–stricken communities in the developing world with the educational, financial and organisational resources necessary to sustainably drive their own economic development. Repayments from these micro–entrepreneurs eventually go into a community bank to be used for further loans. Through this, we hope to create a sustainable micro–lending mechanism that will support enterprise in the village and also serve to reduce vulnerability of the community to shocks that may set them back financially.
