A Stable Income Increases Savings

For 37-year-old Luong Thi Phuong in Tan Thuy hamlet – Tan Phuc commune – Lang Chanh district – Thanh Hoa, her flock of goats is a great motivation to accomplish her dream. “US $235 (5 million VND) earned from goat raising and hired labour now is a monthly stable income for my family. I didn’t believe this husbandry work made possible by MFU loans would bring me a chance to take care of my children,”  Phuong says.

Before taking a loan from World Vision’s Micro Finance Unit (MFU), the monthly income of US $70 (1.5 million VND), earned from Phuong’s husband’s unstable work as hired labour, and her own small farming in dry fields, was not enough to cover basic living expenses. “I wished to have a little capital for farming and husbandry but we never had more than US $48 (1 million VND) in savings. No one in the village believed our capacity to have a good business with farming or husbandry and thus did not lend to me,” she recalls.

When the microfinance program started offering microloans in 2008 for low income households, Phuong was still hesitant to borrow, worrying that she could not repay. She shares that she wanted to observe the results before making the decision to borrow. Just after a short time, her neighbours were not only earning more income, but also settled the loan easily. In addition to the encouragement of her husband, Phuong decided to borrow US $140 (3 million VND) for piglet raising. After one year, she did not only settle her loan easily, but also earned US$140 (3 million dong) as profit from the piglet raising. 

Building upon this success with her business, Phuong took a second loan of US $230 (5 million VND) to buy a couple of goats and profited from several goats after one year. Phuong sold the goats and purchased a motorbike for her husband and a TV for her children. Her husband can now earn more by easily working far from home Additionally, she had enough money to build a new stilt house for the family. 

Phuong has recently borrowed US $470 (10 million VND) in for her third loan cycle to increase her flocks of goats from two to seven (equivalent with US $1170 – 25 million VND). She says happily: “With increasing income from goat raising year by year, I have enough money not only to buy some valuable assets such as a motorbike, and a TV...but also buy clothes and books for my son in school and improve nutrition for my family. Most importantly, I also learned an effective way for saving, and every month I can save nearly US $48 (1 million) in case of any unexpected costs in my family.”