Chingwell Mutombu is a Minnesota-based Congolese philanthropic consultant; she is also the founder of First Step Initiative (FSI), a microfinance organization setup for women in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). AfricanLoft was able to track her down for an interview, below is the synopsis of the conversation.

What is First Step Initiative (FSI) and what inspired you into setting up FSI?

FSI is a microfinance organization for women in DRC. We target women because they are already entrepreneurs as we know from where we come from the market are usually filled with women. And women are usually responsible for the family. They ensure the children have something to eat and also send them to school. Also I grew up seeing women doing a lot of work in the community and when I came here I realized that I could use microfinance to help them achieve their full potential. Fifty dollars here is not a lot of money compared to the impact it has back home and someone can use that money to buy things to sell in the market and the profit will help them feed and cloth their children.
My inspiration comes from the women I saw growing up. The concept of microfinancing is not new to African countries. They have been doing it for centuries. It is similar to when the community gathers money and gives it to one person to do business, and when the person is done with the money they give it to the next person. FSI was started to continue in that type of practice but through microfinancing which is more formal.

What impact as FSI had & how much has been disbursed to date?

FSI is small at this point because I started it as a pilot project and initially it was just small amounts out of my pocket. Sixty women benefited from that project, and for every woman we reached, the impact was six folds because a typical Congolese family comprises of six children. Therefore a total of 360 people have benefited directly from FSI so far. By March we are bringing in another group of clients and we are working to reach 300 women by the end of the year. Though 300 is a large volume it is reachable.

Besides raising funds through donations, how else do you raise funds for FSI?

Most funds have been through individual donations and the hope is that after five years we will have enough pool for FSI to sustain itself through the interest on each loan.

What are the criteria for determining who qualify for the loans?

We target poor women specifically, that is, those making less than a dollar a day. The reason is that the women work directly with the children. When a woman has she would certainly think about putting food on the table.

Your goal for 2007-2008 “is to expand your reach and provide microfinancing opportunities to at least 300-400 women.” How is this coming along?

By the end of the year we’d love to add 300-400 people. Also we have to be realistic because reaching 300-400 will require a lot of staff time and hiring more people. So everything has a lot of repercussions but we are working towards that goal. Even if we don’t meet the numbers but get close that will be great.

What challenges does FSI face and how have you been ale to deal with them?

The challenge of starting a new organization is that the needs are great and you wish you can meet all the needs. Congo has very few microfinancing organizations and NGOs because of the civil war that went on in the 1990s and early 2000. In fact, it was not until 2004 that the country started seeing NGOs moving in. I can literally count the number of microfinancing organizations in Congo and most of them are headquartered in the capitol, Kinshasa. There is nothing in the providences where all the people in the villages live. Another challenge that we face is meeting the huge demands for microloans. We are overwhelmed. Unfortunately the demand is great but we can only serve a few hundreds people because of our limited resources. Some times I wonder if we should be giving people hope if it is only 100 we can help at a time. At the same time I know that for every journey one has to start somewhere and the hope is that it will continue to grow. Raising funds is another challenge we face as a non-profit organization. People have to believe in it before they are willing to invest in what you are doing.

How do you monitor and ensure money is spent on the right project?

We screen our clients as they are joining the loan program and we review their business plans/ideas before we invest in their income generating activities.. We also have loan officers who follow up and have weekly meetings to assess their progress over time. The loan officers also spend time examining the challenges, so that we can continue to learn and modify our services to meet the needs of our clients. At this point it is not a big deal but when we reach a thousand clients or more, monitoring will probably be different.

Besides monitoring repayment, what other things do the groups educate on?

Groups are very important. The groups not only provide an opportunity for business growth but also provide health education. For example, we teach women about nutrition to help reduce malnutrition among children. Working in groups provides a platform where people come to talk about different things. It creates a neutral environment where people support each other so that they don’t feel that they are working in isolation. For instance if someone invests in tomato business, they can talk about some of the challenges they face in selling tomatoes and the group can help them brainstorm strategies to help them diversify their products so that they can improve their sales.

The group meetings also help the women understand how the loan works. In addition, we help our clients understand the importance of diversifying their investment. For instance, one needs a series of ingredients to make a meal; in a sense, the entrepreneur could sell all the ingredients that are needed to prepare a staple meal. So they learn how to maximize their profits in order to grow their business. It is not just the women who are learning, as an organization we are also learning how we can better serve them. And it provides an opportunity for the organization to get feedback.

Can you share with us some of the success stories of FSI?

I like to tell the story of Lizette a savvy young lady I met about a year ago. She is the eldest of five and has been taking care of the family ever since she was fourteen. She started her own business at the age of fourteen when she discovered that she was very good at braiding hair. Since then, she has used her talent to generate income to support herself and her family. When I meant her in March of 2007, I wanted to know what she would do if she was given a $50 loan to invest in her business. She responded without hesitation that she would purchase the necessary equipments and rent a space so that she can attract more customers to her business. She wants to train younger women her age and hire them to do the work so that they can spend their time working instead of soliciting money outside because HIV/AIDS is a big issue. So bringing these young ladies to work with her allows them to earn their own income to sustain themselves. I know she will be one of our biggest success stories.

If you were to make a wish, what will this be?

My wish for FSI will be that in the next 5 years we will be working with at least 11,000 women. To me if we are able to reach 11,000 women, the power and the impact those women will have on their community will be much bigger. Those are the women who are the change makers and I can see them bring positive change in their communities. My hope and wish is to get enough resources to grow.

How can someone who is interested in contributing monetarily and volunteering get involved with FSI?

We are always looking for volunteers especially people with marketing skills, or production management. I encourage people to contact me who are interested in volunteering and they can learn more about our work by visiting us on online at www.firststepinitiative.org. We also accept donations online. The website also provides an address where checks or cash can be sent.

First on AfricanLoft on February 22, 2008.

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