Group microloan product
October 2013
Thirty-two-year-old, Marzhan Amirkhanova, was one of the first clients of the Urdzhar sub-office, Semey branch. Marzhan has now been using ACF’s products and services for over 4 years. Marzhan lives in Urdzhar, a remote village in East Kazakhstan, with her husband and fourteen year old son. Her husband works in a slaughter house as a cutter and her son is a 7th grade secondary school pupil, who also practices judo and in the future dreams of becoming a professional athlete. Currently, Marzhan runs a small farm and meat retail business with her husband. Before ACF opened its Urdzhar office, Marzhan had only one cow and sold milk to her neighbours as her main form of economic activity. Given the cow could only produce a maximum of 5 litres of milk per day, Marzhan’s monthly income was just 7,500 tenge (circa. USD 85). Marzhan wanted to increase her livestock, but didn’t have sufficient savings to finance such expansion.
In 2009, Marzhan heard about ACF and came to the company for advice. She was surprised, and even elated, by the group lending conditions, especially the fact that ACF’s group lending was unsecured; so Marzhan only had to gather
a group of reliable people (co-borrowers) to guarantee the microloan, rather than pledge assets that she did not have. After Marzhan’s group was checked and approved by ACF she received her first microloan from ACF; 80,000 tenge (circa. USD 500) for 7 months. She used the microloan to purchase a cow, which she fattened and sold, netting a profit of 10,000 tenge after fully repaying the microloan. With Marzhan’s good credit history, she was able to apply and receive a second larger microloan, which allowed her to purchase two cows, which she was once again able to turn into a healthy cash profit and income for her family. Her additional business earnings were used to increase her farm. Over four years of using ACF financial services, Marzhan received 1,200,000 tenge (USD 7,700) of microloans in total and has grown her farm from 1 cow to 3 horses, 30 sheep, and 3 cows. Besides rearing livestock, Marzhan now also sells meat. She has plans to diversify her income flow by starting a new bee keeping business for which
she will seek further financial assistance from ACF. As her current business is stable and producing a steady income, Marzhan is well protected if the new business gets off to a slow start. Marzhan notes that having a reliable and stable financial partner such as ACF, helps her to look confidently to the future and make plans for improving her living conditions and that of her family.