THE EGG MAN (NIWTON)

This week saw the start of our first two small businesses. It is great to be able to provide interest free loans to people that would not have access to funds to start a business. It is an unfortunate reality that many people in Sri Lanka do not have a disposable income. Instead, they live on a day to day basis. What profit they make is spent on the essentials of food and shelter.

We aim to give them a true income and teach them business practices to help them budget and prepare for the future. We are committed to seeing their business succeed so, although the loan is required to be repaid, repayments are based on their monthly income. This means that if they have a bad month they will not be in a situation where they have to repay more than they earn.

I met Niwton in the tsunami village where he and his wife live. Niwton was a carpenter until a fall from a roof left him injured. Upon recovery he found that he could not regain his job because of his age. So he and his wife started selling eggs door to door. Each week they buy nine hundred eggs and make AU one to two cents per egg profit. Although they are both in their late sixties they work every day, walking up to twenty kilometres to sell their nine hundred eggs for the week. His wife tells me that she does more than him beause she also sells soap and shampoo. He lightheartedly responds by mentioning that he always gives her the hilliest roads to sell on. They work hard but have not been able to earn enough to get out of the cycle of spending everything on surviving.

Through the generosity of those in Australia we have provided enough to buy three thousand eggs. This will help him step to the next level of income without having to sacrifice any more. We will provide them with basic training in business principles and our support will continue until the loan is repaid and they are secure in their business. The final step is to have successful operators become a mentor to other businesses, being able to offer first hand advise to new starters.