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Güler Turan and Emine
Çakim, both from the 1999-quake stricken
Izmit, Turkey, are two women among a relatively
small group of people who benefited from
microcredits, distributed by only two organizations
in Turkey. Güler Turan (27) is producing
hand-woven silk carpets in her single-room
house. She received her first microcredit,
totalling 1000 YTL, on 16.9.2005. Turan
will pay the credit back in eight months,
and her monthly instalment is 153 YTL. She
learned carpet-weaving at the age of 11
and started her own rug business at home
with a few silk balls. When her talent combined
with the microcredit, silk carpet weaving
became the main source of income for her
family.
Turan explains how she benefited
from the microcredit:
"We used to have
a house of our own, but it was levelled
during the earthquake. Shortly after the
quake, my husband became unemployed, and
since we have two children, we experienced
a great deal of financial
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difficulties. I applied to
a bank, but I wasn't found eligible for loans
as I had no security to offer them. Their interest
rate was pretty high anyway. Then I found about
the microcredits. They readily supported
me. I bought the material I needed for silk-carpet
weaving and can now meet the bulk of my family's
expenses. I'm going to sell the carpet I wove
for 2000 YTL, which is a fortune for me. I can
pay my debts and even purchase goods for the house.
I'm planning to save some money and buy a house
too. I have started going now and there is no
giving up for me. As I receive more micro credits,
my income will grow as well as my business. I
cannot put into words how the micro credit has
contributed to me."
Emine
Çakim (50), on the other hand, makes
manti (dumplings) and gözleme (pancakes)
at a shop co-owned by friends. She obtained
two micro credits in 2004 and a third one
worth 1000 YTL in 2005. She will repay it
by monthly instalments of 111 YTL over twelve
months. Çakim tells her story of starting
her own business:
"A friend of mine and I were pondering
how we could make a living and decided to
open a manti shop, as it was the best thing
we could do. In the beginning, we started
out with several partners and by selling the
mantiwe made to acquaintances, expanded the
business and rented a bigger shop. But then
the earthquake hit, and we started working
in huts. We couldn't afford to pay our rent
and meet the minced meat and flour expenses.
Banks didn't give us loans. Then I discovered
the microfinance. I covered all my debts with
the microcredit and could purchase more ingredients."
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"Now I have left all my troubles behind
me. We changed the shop with the second credit
and rented a second shop for manufacturing. We
started off with one kilo of flour; today I can
buy sacks of it. I sell manti to big restaurants.
I opened an additional shop with my daughter where
we also make gözleme. I have 4-5 friends
working for me."
In Turkey, the primary suppliers of microfinance
services currently are only two organizations,
Foundation for the Support of Women's Work (MAYA),
which started its business in 1997 in the Marmara
Region by giving microcredits to 100 women only,
and Grameen Bank, which gives microcredits in
the Southeast Anatolian region, are experimenting
with microcredit delivery. These two organisations
have by now given microcredits approximately to
two thousand women in total and they say that
98 percent of women have started their own businesses
and paid back their debts.
According to a study commissioned by the UNDP,
the number of people, who could potentially benefit
from microcredits in Turkey, is much higher than
the ones currently benefiting from microcredits.
The market for microfinance services is estimated
conservatively at roughly between 1 and 2 million
potential clients, considering only loans. (For
the assessment report, please visit: http://www.undp.org.tr/pdf/MicrofinanceSectorAssessment_UNDP-Turkey.pdf)
In the absence of a microfinance system in Turkey
and given the fact that the United Nations General
Assembly proclaimed the year 2005 as the International
Year of Microcredit to recognize microcredit's
contribution to poverty alleviation, UNDP Turkey
Representation has started activities to support
dialogue around microfinance and promote debate
on how microfinance can be used as a tool for
poverty reduction. The UNDP Representation in
Turkey takes the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's
following words as a motto:
"Microfinance regards the poor as
a solution, not as an issue. This system is a
way of developing their ideas, energy and vision."
To read more about UNDP Turkey's microfinance
initiative, please visit: www.mikrofinansturkiye.org
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