Latest news from Albadi (Inkisi, the DRC)
16 July 2009

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News of the School

Albadi presented twelve pupils to the Primary Cycle Final National Test, and it was the first year. All our twelve children passed: the 1st scored 70 percent and the last 56 percent of the marks. Once again, we thank our benefactors who, from far away, are helping us to make this educative work a success.

News of the Cooperative:

Our office seen from outdoors.

La Mutuelle d'épargne et de crédit (The Mutual Savings and Loans Co-op), MEC Nsala sani/Cooppec has been working since April 22nd, 2009.

MEC is a proximity fund whose main activity is to collect and make secure its members' savings and give them access to low interest loans. This is a bank created by the people and for the people, a rural proximity bank.

You may notice that we thought it better to start this micro-finance institution just after our training, which is not the case for so many schemes that have to wait for  external funding before start up. So, it was not at all easy, especially after the sad experience of our late brother Ngamba Toussaint's CDCI. We had to be able to convince people of our seriousness. Happily, the Albadi experience is a living testimony for our surroundings.

Our cashiers.

MEC is being followed by Le Regroupement des Institutions du système de Financement Décentralisé du Congo (the Congo Decentralised Financing system Institutions Regrouping), or RIFIDEC. This association is organising basic training workshops, classical trainings, meetings for exchanges between micro-finance practitioners.

The co-operative is providing two services: savings and loans, and we have devised a mobile cashier system for the collection of the tontine savings.* The interest rate on loans is 6%. We feel optimistic in spite of some difficulties inherent in every start of an enterprise.

• Sensitatisation: meeting with the leading citizens.

  The production of printed forms is of a tremendous cost to us because we have no fully equipped computer, nor a photocopier. We have no safe, either.
• With the commissions we get, we can pay the rent, the electricity bill and our transportation expenses; for the moment, we have not yet been able to pay our staff any salary. It is now our third month, and all we can pay is a modest allowance.
• As we have not yet got any long-term deposit, giving loans is posing problems for our planning.
• We already have 552 non Subud members. The Subud members are joining very slowly; nevertheless, the Chairman Pokoti has already opened an account for Subud DRC.

The vicar of the RC Kikonka Parish.

I could not get the Subud members' assent for this project. Most of them wanted to see what we will achieve, but I have now faith in their positive response.

We need around USD 5,000 as a working capital—a long term deposit would be good—and to be able to purchase a safe as well as office equipment.

We are very optimistic; any help would be welcome, but, please mention the type of your offer (grant, loan...).

Thank you all,

Albert DILUAMBANZILA M. Ngimbi
Phone:+243 (0)89 91 40 107
E-mail: albadi_2003@yahoo.fr

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*"Tontine" is a system that has evolved into a mutual loan and savings scheme where a group of people collects its members' investments and one of them borrows the whole amount. After that one has repaid the amount — with interest, the next person borrows the whole amount, and so on. It is a revolving scheme as the happy winner changes each time. There may be huge sums involved, especially with the Chinese.