MEP Syed Kamall helping to create wealth

Conservative Party MEP Syed Kamall has helped over 100 entrepreneurs in developing countries to create wealth for themselves.

The member of European Parliament set up the Conservative Party Kiva Lending Group in 2008 and the 29 members have so far made loans totalling $4,100 – equivalent to around £2,600 – to 121 men and women in countries such as Ghana, Pakistan, Ecuador, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Rwanda.

KIVA is a website dedicated to alleviating poverty around the world by providing micro-financing to business owners.   So far, the Conservatives are the only political party in the UK to have done so.

Syed Kamall MEP said: “As Conservatives, we believe that one of most effective ways to help citizens of poorer countries to pull themselves out of poverty is to help local entrepreneurs who will create wealth and jobs for their fellow citizens.  Kiva is an organisation which helps individuals in the developed world to offer small amounts of capital in the form of loans to entrepreneurs in less developed countries.”

The Conservative Party Kiva Lending Group’s loans have helped people such as Natukunda Winnie, a 32-year-old married mother of three who runs a general store in Ntungamo, Uganda; Unenbat Baavan, a 35 year Mongolian nomad in Uvurhangai province who took out a loan to start a carpentry business to support his wife and two children; and Mariana Del Jesus Arteaga Meza who sells mobile phone calling cards in Portoviejo, Ecuador.

The YUTACHI group located in Santiago Jamiltepec Oaxaca, Mexico used the loan which they were awarded to acquire material to use for making  hand-made embroideries including handbags, wallets, blouses, napkins and tablecloths.

Picture: Some members of the YUTACHI group: Anastacia Nicolas Martinez, Salustia Trinidad Morales, Victoria Garcia Merino, Gaudencia Morales Hernandez, Jovita Nicolas Perez, Divina Albina Merino Santiago, Adela Molina Ruiz, Rosalia Vasquez Mejia, Esther Leonor Baños Juarez, Yureli Avila Mena, Maria Elena Garcia Merino

Davina Kirwan