Micro-finance
MFM annually gives Micro-finance loans to over 400 people, 70% of whom are women. A woman will feed, educate, and get health care for her children with her profits from soap making, breeding and selling small animals, or a grain bank.
MICRO-FINANCE LOANS
This program empowers the people with small working funds in order to start a small enterprise to make a profit. Each village has a loan committee of men and women who make the decision of the loan amounts and the credibility of the loan applicants. The amount of the loans varies from $10 to $100. In America this would seem small, but in Mali with a per capita income of $1 a day, the amount has potential for an enterprise. The loans are set with a repayment schedule that will occur in a year. 70% of loans go to women. Some examples of loans are grain banks, goats or sheep for breeding /selling, and fertilizer for fields.
A 5% loan fee is charged to the applicant to help cover the costs that are associated with the program.