Archives: Success Stories

Em Srey Las, Cosmetician

Ms. Eum Sreylors, with a smile of full hope is 33-year-old mother of two- one daughters and one son – Lives in Pleung Chhes Rotes village, Sangkat Pleung Chhes Rotes, Khan Posenchey, Phnom Penh. She runs a business of cosmetic makeup at her house. She has had the business for almost ten years and has a lot of experience regarding her business. Her husband, Mr.Mom Ran, 36 years old, he is a taxi driver and also delivers the clean water to sell for the villagers. He has experience with his job for about 3 years.

Ms. Sreylors was introduced to MAXIMA for the first time in 2013 by her neighbor. She decided to request the loan for the first amount of $5,000 to build her store to be used as her business and buy material and cosmetic products. After getting their first loan, the couple had a new business with the ability to repay monthly interest easily. Seeing the improvement in their lives, they later asked for more loans. Now they take a renewed loan with the amount of $5,000 to buy a van to deliver the clean water to sell in the village.

She has a long relationship with MAXIMA as she has been our client for 8 cycles. With the loan provided Ms. Eum Sreyors is keen to expand her business further. With the income she earns, she could provide a better standard of living for her family and good education for her children. In the future, she wishes to improve her business and support her children’s study.

Ms. Eum Sreylors: “Before giving me a loan, MAXIMA’s staff always clearly explains the loan conditions and repayment methods to me. “I am very grateful to MAXIMA for giving us loans. The loans changed our lives completely for the better. She said.

Kou Lai

Ms. Kou Lai is 57-year-old mother of six – two daughters and four sons – Lives in Peam Ta Ek village, Peam Okha Ung commune, Lvea Em district, Kandal province. She runs a business of mats weaving at her house. She has had the business for almost ten years and has a lot of experience regarding her business. Her husband Mr. Sang Sun is a chef and a farmer in the village. He has experience in his job for 16 years.

Mrs. Kou Lai first heard about MAXIMA in 2016 from our credit officer who introduced the products and services of MAXIMA to her in village. She took the loan from MAXIMA to refill the land for building her house and now she has a suitable resident for her family. She said that she trusts MAXIMA because of our fast financial services that have always responded to her needs over time. In addition to mats weaving, she and her husband spend their time at the field planting corn and also grows rice to support their living.

Before using MAXIMA’s financial services, she earned her main income from farming, making a few amounts per day. Now her family has seen an increase in household income as they have more clients to buy her products and improve their lives as they become micro business owners. Ms. Kou Lai is keen to expand her business further. With the income she earns, she could provide a better standard of living for her family.

Sim Sophy, Business owner, Grocer

Ms. Sim Sophy is 46-year-old mother of four – two daughters and two sons – Lives in Koh Prak village, Phum Thom commune, Kien Svay district, Kandal province. She runs a business of grocery items at her house. She has had the business for almost ten years and has a lot of experience regarding her business.

The family has seen an increase in household income as they have more goods to sell in front of their house and improve their lives as they become micro business owners.

With the loan provided, Ms. Sim Sophy is keen to expand her business further. With the income she earns, she could provide a better standard of living for her family and good education for her children. In the future, she wishes to improve her business and support her children’s study until university level. “Thanks to MAXIMA’s loan for supporting my business and our family we are now happy,” she said.

Lim Sophorn

Mr. Lim Sophorn, a 70-year-old father of three sons, lives in Koh Prak village, Phum Thom commune, Kien Svay district, Kandal province where he has lived since his marriage in 1986. He is a construction worker and farmer growing corns, papayas, and eggplants in his village for the past 23 years.

Reflecting on the loan application process, Mr. Sophorn, said: “Before giving me a loan, MAXIMA’s staff always clearly explains the loan conditions and repayment methods to me and often give me a good recommendation on how to use the loan with right purpose and payback capacity to avoid over-indebtedness.”

These days, Mr. Sophorn and his family enjoy a decent living standard. He has been able to renovate his house and increase the yield of his crop with MAXIMA loan, and he has never missed a loan repayment.

Phal An

Mrs. An married in 1979 and has three children; two sons and one daughter. Both of her sons live with her and her daughter has married and has her own family. Mrs. An is one of the rice wine makers in the village while her husband, Sek Saroeurn, is a motor taxi driver. She is in her late 50’s but still strong enough to work. They both were unable to finish the primary school, but they try to earn money to support the two sons so they may attend school. Their house is about 11 kilometers from Phnom Penh. She is borrowing a loan from MAXIMA which funding from 7 lenders through KIVA (http://www.kiva.org) and this is the third loan cycle in the amount of $700 to buy more rice and rice husk to make rice wine. Mrs. An successful story was drawn attention to Daily Resources of Entrepreneurs based in New York to posting her story in the news : Thanks to a microloan from half a world away, a Cambodian rice winemaker named Phal An is ready to expand her growing business.

Hoeman

Hoe took out her first loan with MAXIMA in December 2007. She had never been able to access financial services of any kind before and was very scared to borrow money from a financial institution. For years Hoe had purchased used clothes from her neighbors and resold them from her home, a very small business which brought in limited income for her family. She managed to bring in only 10,000 Cambodian Riel (approximately $2.50 USD) each day. Her children were never able to go to school, as the family could not afford school fees or the opportunity costs associated with their children not working to support the family.

Hoe decided she wanted to supplement her modest income with an additional business. She applied for a loan with MAXIMA to purchase a fishing net and boat so she and her children could catch fish to sell to their neighbors. Several months later, Hoe’s fishing business was bringing in 20,000-30,000 Riel (around $5.00-7.50 USD) each day. When coupled with the clothing business Hoe continued to run, this substantially increased Hoe’s income and subsequently improved the family’s standard of living.

Unfortunately, none of Hoe’s children were able to complete their educations and do not expect to return to school in the future. However, because of her hard work and entrepreneurialism, Hoe believes that she will be able to successfully establish her fishing work so her children can continue this line of work in the future and enjoy the security of running such a successful business. Her loan from MAXIMA thus not only positively impacted her life, but has provided a profitable and sustainable opportunity for her children’s as well.

Soa Pov

Pov lives in the Kean Svay district of Kandal Province, a rural area approximately fifteen kilometers from Cambodia�s capital of Phnom Penh. She is married with two children. For years Pov has worked selling jasmine and bananas to her neighbors in the nearby market of Chba Ampov. She purchases these crops, the former which is an important traditional flower used in Buddhist ceremonies and the latter which is a popular fruit in Cambodian diet, from surrounding farmers. Her husband raises pigs and cows, also which he sells to the couple�s neighbors.

Pov and her husband Meng Leang wished to expand upon their small businesses into a more lucrative industry. As they live along a somewhat busy road, they decided that their location was an optimal spot for a motorbike cleaning station. Motorbikes are the most common form of transportation for most Cambodians and businesses which tend to the repair or maintenance of the �motors,� as they are called locally, makes up quite an important industry.

With a loan from MAXIMA, Pov and Meng were able to have the capital to purchase the materials required to start their motor cleaning service. Several months after they first opened, they are happy to share that business is doing very well and they earn approximately 40,000 Riels ($10 USD) a day for their work. This may not seem like much, but for a family which was formerly earning only half that amount, the profits have been tremendously helpful for their family.

With their additional income, Pov and Meng have been able to continue to support their other two businesses of selling jasmine and bananas as well as raising pigs. They say they can comfortably pay for daily expenses for their family, which is especially crucial in light of recent food price increases. They are also able to continue sending their children to school, which is exciting because Pov and her husband highly value education and hope their children will be able to someday attend college. Pov says she hopes her children will be able to obtain better jobs and enjoy a better life than she has. With hard work, it looks like her plans may work out well.