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The Encinitas local micro-finance project is to be funded with $3,000 from the Encinitas Rotary Club and $3,000 from a District 5340 matching grant. The project is designed to create a supportive environment for ten low-income minority mothers to meet weekly for six months to share, learn and acquire the skills needed to start their own business.
The main thrust of the project will be in the area of group training - developing the necessary skills to create a realistic business plan for a home based business with the goal to use that learning and experience to expand into a larger business. The group of ten mothers will meet weekly (two hours) for business training in areas such as financial literacy, basic budgeting, product development and market research and communication - including help with designing marketing and promotion materials, and bringing a product to market. Training sessions will be led by professional staff (28 meetings @ $100 per meeting: $2,800). A major side benefit will be the social interaction that creates a support network leading to greater confidence and empowerment for the participants. Each client will receive an initial loan of $250 (Principal: $2,500), which will be paid back weekly over six months. The loan is small (will typically take care of permits and license fees to start a simple home-based business), but is mainly intended as a "practice loan" to build credit history and provide a business learning experience for the clients. The loan enables the client to go through the process of receiving and repaying a loan responsibly - in the same way as a traditional bank loan that they are being prepared to manage in the future. The remaining $700 of the budget is for additional administrative expenses, training equipment and materials, and contingency reserve.
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