A LEADING Asian MP has used an innovative way to lend some money to a farmer living in poverty in Cambodia.

Rushanara Ali, Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow and Shadow Minister for International Development, has made a generous loan through www.lendwithcare.org.

A LEADING Asian MP has used an innovative way to lend some money to a farmer living in poverty in Cambodia.

Rushanara Ali, Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow and Shadow Minister for International Development, has made a generous loan through www.lendwithcare.org.

Ali is the first Labour MP to make a loan through revolutionary new initiative, Lendwithcare.org, which encourages people in the UK to lend relatively small amounts to small scale entrepreneurs running their own enterprise in developing countries.

Ali’s loan will assist Khon Soeurn, a local farmer based in O Kam Bot village which is in Ek Phnom district in Battambang province. Khon Soeurn grows rice, maize and cucumber with the help of her husband. Khon has sought a loan in order to buy a small boat that will facilitate transportation, particularly of the rice, to local merchants. This will help her to expand her business and provide for her family, including education costs for their two children, who are nine and six-years-old.

Currently operating in Cambodia, Togo, Benin and the Philippines, Lendwithcare.org is an exciting innovation from CARE International UK enabling poor people – especially vulnerable, marginalised women – to find their own route out of poverty and support themselves and their families over the long term. As opposed to making a one-off donation, members of the public can lend from just £15 directly to a chosen individual in the developing world to help them start or improve a small business. This enables people from poor communities to earn income, send their children to school, feed their families and gain economic independence as their business grows.

Ali said she was attracted to the entrepreneurial spirit behind lendwithcare.org.

"I believe that providing the opportunity and framework for people to help themselves is a fantastic innovation," said Ali.

"I know people are willing to work to repair their lives; they just need even the smallest of leg-ups to get them started. I look forward to following the progress of Khon Soeurn’s business via lendwithcare.org.”

Entrepreneurs repay the lender using the income from their growing business. Once repaid, the lender can then choose to recycle the loan to support another entrepreneur or withdraw the money.

Lendwithcare.org is supported by The Co-operative as part of a shared vision to help people to work their way out of poverty.

Tracy Horner head of Lendwithcare.org  said: “It’s fantastic to start getting the support of local MPs for Lendwithcare.org. Entrepreneurs in the developing world are often living in desperate poverty, but microfinance is a proven long-term and sustainable solution to alleviating that. The loans made through Lendwithcare.org really help individuals to improve the lives of themselves and their communities.”

For more information go to www.lendwithcare.org

Picture: Farmers in Cambodia

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