Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Microfinance has taken a beating lately for shifting far afield from its humanitarian origins, originally funding tiny businesses run by poor women in developing countries to feed their families. It’s become a good idea gone bad, a charitable enterprise spoiled as profit surpassed people as the rationale for investment. It sickens the soul. […]
Tag Archives: Zafèn
Zafèn Haitian Microfinance Effort Engages Haitians to Forge a New Future
Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Haitians like Jean-Patrick Lucien are one reason Zafèn, a new online microfinance program targeting small- and medium-sized businesses in Haiti, has been so successful. Action-oriented people like Chicago photographer Jennifer Girard are another. Zafèn is marking its six-month anniversary in October and has already amassed an impressive track record of success. It has raised […]
Zafèn: New Interest-Free Microloan Initiative Launched for Haiti
Creations Blaise in Jacmel makes functional products such as trays, under-plates and bookends in wood, glass and papier mache. Its long-term business plan is to establish an administrative organization with a professional accountant, a supervisor and a marketing department. With this structure in place, the firm plans to sell its products directly to the international […]
Zafèn Microloan Program for Haitian Businesses Announced
Brooklyn Auxiliary Bishop Guy Sansaricq, the only Haitian-born U.S. bishop, encouraged members of the New York Haitian Diaspora to use the website as a means to help Haitians begin viable enterprises that will contribute to a self-sustaining Haitian economy in the future. With the help of David Miller, dean of DePaul’s College of Computer Science […]
