What is Lend to End [poverty]?

This event has raised more than $200,000 to date, and has made it possible for The Townships Project to develop Four Wheel Drive Mobile, an approach to poverty eradication which is viewed as exceptionally promising by the people who should know – including microfinance, social enterprise, business school, franchising and community development professionals.  From 31 August to 2 September, The Townships Project, in conjunction with an “A Team” of South African partners, will be hosting the first MicroFranchising Launch: Trade Show and Workshops in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.  This, to our knowledge, is a first worldwide, bringing together professionals from many disciplines, from community development to franchising, to find and support the most successful micro-enterprises and to provide the assistance needed to successfully “micro-franchise” them.  This is the next logical step in making microfinance institutions (MFIs) more successful.

The Townships Project is a registered charity that has been supporting MFIs in South Africa since 1999. These MFIs make repayable, interest-bearing loans to entrepreneurs, primarily women, to start or expand small businesses, to become self-sustaining and to break the cycle of poverty. As of February 2011, The Townships Project has changed the lives of more than 100,000 people with an investment of about $50 per person. Charitable registration No. 86418 8420 RR0001

For more information on The Townships Project please click here.

Lend to End [poverty] Presentation on MicroFranchising Launch

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Success Starts Small

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A Special Note from The Townships Project Founder Martha Deacon

2 March 2011

Hello to all of you!

I have just returned from South Africa after a fantastic two weeks investigating how our work is going down there. And the answer is: excellently well!

We continue to support Yvonne Radinku and her Grameen-style lending organization, Tetla Financial Solutions, operating in the township areas surrounding Cape Town. We also continue to support Phakamani, a Grameen-style lender based in White River/Nelspruit area just west of the south end of Kruger National Park. You can see their month by month performance numbers on our website (click here).  In addition, we are building an amazing coalition of universities, NGOs, corporations and private entrepreneurs who are supporting a new development initiative called Asset Based Community Development (ABCD). ABCD is making microlending far more effective by starting work in a community with the question "What do we have?" instead of "What do we need?" This changes the dynamics from victim to actor, and sets the community on the path to developing its own economic plan, and to enlisting local corporations to support it. Then microlending comes into the mix to support the businesses that emerge from that plan, and microfranchising helps ensure in the future that the emerging businesses are run as effectively and efficiently as possible. Communities are being changed right now with this approach.

We are planning the first MicroFranchising Launch:  Trade Show and Workshop for 31 August – 2 September 2011 in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.  To our knowledge, this is a worldwide first, and it is intended to build an ecosystem of successful microfranchises, which are available for purchase to those who wish to start their own businesses on a franchise model with the aid of a microloan.  We have received amazing financial support in this endeavour from both Standard Bank and LegalWise, and are in conversations with a number of other leading South African corporations about ongoing support, to turn this into an annual event.

Thanks to all of you for your help and your interest in The Townships Project. Please buy your tickets to Lend to End [poverty] right now, and let’s make this the best event yet! Looking forward to seeing you at Alice Fazooli's on Thursday, May 12th, 2011!

With sincere thanks and appreciation for all you do,

Martha Deacon

Features:

Music by:

(Featuring Soul Singer Betty Richardson)

• 1 week summer home in Prince Edward
   Island

• 1 week condo in the Bahamas

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