Newsletter: November - December 2010

We still have incomplete
projects awaiting financing…

Thank you and Congratulations!!! As announced back in our October Newsletter, Veecus is now back up and running. Indeed, since then, 10 new loans have been approved and published on the site, and 60% were fully financed within that very short period of time! Thanks to your commitment and generosity, things are moving. Furthermore, we were pleased to see the first projects in Peru from our new micro-finance partner X-Microfinance. They were pleasantly surprised by your motivation and the speed at which they were financed.

However, we still have 4 incomplete projects awaiting financing, in Cameroon. As you may know, loan requests are kept "live" for approximately 2 months. It would be a pity to miss our financing target and have to reject these requests, especially as some of you still have funds (from previous reimbursed loans) pending on your Veecus accounts. Why not use the various functionalities available on the Veecus platform to help us gain new members and fund these, and other, projects :

• Re-use the money from earlier (reimbursed) loans: You don’t need to take out your credit card – Just click and finance the project(s) of your choice, the money is already on your Veecus account! If every Veecus member does this, the remaining projects can be  financed in no time.
• Organize a fundraising campaign: It’s as easy as 1-2-3 – Just go to the tab called ACT and select one of two types of fundraising campaigns:
• either a « closed » campaign, for a specific event with an end date (like a birth date),
• or an « open » campaign, that will end as and when the project is fully financed.

After completing the campaign details, you will be given a link for it. It’s then just a matter for you to spread it around as widely as you can. Each time someone uses your link to finance the project you will receive a message advising you of their loan, so that you can personally thank them! You will also be able to track your fundraising campaigns online, via your Veecus account.

Looking for an original gift this year? Look no further…

If you are looking for a different and original gift this year, Veecus is an excellent way to be twice as useful!

• First, organize a fundraising campaign in the name of the relative you would like give this gift too. Organizing a fundraiser will allow friends and family to participate with you,
• Next, when the micro-entrepreneur has reimbursed the loan, your relative can decide to either request a refund (to purchase a personal present) or better, to simply reinvest the money with a new Veecus project.

Not only is this gift much better than your standard gift voucher, it will also makes four of us happy: your relative, you, the micro-entrepreneur, and of course Veecus!

So! What are you waiting for? Click here and organize your fundraiser today!

Newsroom

A number of you have most certainly heard or read in the media about recent and unfortunate events around problems in microfinance in India and elsewhere. We should not ignore these issues, as they do raise questions and require answers and actions from all stakeholders. However, one answer is definitely not to stop or slow down the growth of microfinance, quite the opposite. Instead, we should focus back to the fundamentals of microfinance namely providing access to financial services for those who do not have it (or barely, at prohibitive costs). Microfinance is meant to finance an economic activity (a project), thanks to which the entrepreneur will be able to improve his or her family’s social and economical situation. Microfinance is not meant to be another way to finance the purchase of everyday goods and services, definitely not. Using microfinance for such purpose would only make the recipients poorer by increasing the cost of such goods (because of the interest burden).

Did you know?

Veecus can be exported. Yes, you can easily create your own banner, complete with motivations, comments, objectives etc. You can customize teh banner with your own background colors and define scrolling patterns for the Veecus projects. Once you are satisfied on the look and feel of your banner, you will be provided with the source code for the banner, and you can then place it on your Facebook page, Twitter account or any blog or webiste. This is a perfect way to let everyone know about your commitment and spread the word out about Veecus. The banner is automatically updated with new projects whenever loans are completed. Click here to register and log in to create your Veecus banner.

Our first Corporate members

We announced it in October, it’s now a done deal. The Tree Hub SA and DJR Sarl have started to finance a number of projects along your side on the Veecus platform. You can easily identify them through their logos (in place of pictures). In their own way, they are also going to start "spreading the word" through their business networks and make Veecus grow faster:

• The Tree Hub uses funds collected through its educational games. Right now, these are still small amounts. However, the objective is for Veecus to benefit from the success of the games. Have a look yourself at the Forest’Oh ! Land online game?
• DJR has included microfinance in its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, as it believes that it must include environmental, social and economic components. It will also actively encourage its business partners to join Veecus and take action! A first client has already indicated interest in the idea, let’s hope they join in soon too.

If you would like your employer, or your own company, to join as a Veecus Corporate, wait no longer ! Give us their contact details and we will be in touch with them to explain our Corporate Services offer.

Our local microfinance partners: