Villages
SPBD is very excited to have the opportunity to work alongside village leaders and their communities throughout the Pacific.
Loan Program - the start-up phase
Before we ever start a program in a new village, an SPBD center manager will meet with village leaders to provide them with information about the purpose and processes of our program. If interested, these leaders will extend a formal written invitation to SPBD to make a full presentation (also called Preliminary Meeting) to interested villagers.
The Preliminary Meeting ensures that all members of the local village (including the husbands and fathers of prospective members) are well informed about the program. After the Preliminary Meeting, a center is formed with a number of interested villager applicants.
Services Provided to Micro-Entrepreneurs
- Small unsecured loans of approximately USD400 for micro-businesses, housing improvement and children’s education
- SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) loans between USD3,000 and USD6,500
- OWL or Overseas Worker Loans for workers who travel to New Zealand and Australia for 4 months to do manual labor
- Simple and small balance savings services to build-up funds for future needs
- Training (financial and business) and on-going guidance
- In-house loan insurance which covers clients’ outstanding loans with SPBD in case of death
- Life Insurance to clients and their spouses designed to decrease the financial burden on the family of the deceased
- Mobile money services in Fiji in partnership with Vodafone.
- Higher Education loans for secondary education and Solar loans for renewable energy equipment.
