News
Digital Update from the Philippines: Lorena’s pig farm
In November 2019, we first reported on Lorena and her small pig farm. At that time, she received a microloan from GMI, which she used to purchase her first animal to start her own pig farm. She now owns several healthy animals and recently successfully repaid her second [...]
With success to the next generation
4 years passed since Perpetua became self-employed with her own sari-sari store. Perpetua is a 70-year-old retired high school teacher. Besides fulfilling her dream with her own shop, she was also able to take care of her beloved grandchildren and, by that, support her children. Her ultimate goal is to [...]
New areas of making business and possibilities thanks to GCash
We have successfully enabled access for GCash to our microloan borrowers. This was part of our digital initiative. Mobile banking in rural areas where we help people is not as common as for in the western world. So, what is GCash? GCash is a mobile financial service. With GCash we [...]
Lernt unsere Kleinunternehmerinnen kennen: Murniati
Meet our entrepreneurs: Murniati43-year-old Murniati is a participant in our microcredit program. In addition to her hard work in the fields of Lombok, she runs a small business where she prepares various dishes as well as snacks and cakes. She brings the food herself in a large basket to the [...]
What does sustainable development aid look like?
9th grade students at the Paul Gerhardt School in Kahl am Main. The students of the M branch of the middle school look with interest at the digital board. A video shows scenes from a Philippine slum. Just a few minutes later, images of Indonesian and Filipino microcredit recipients [...]
Check out our Partner in Bali
Check out our partner organization: BPR SIWI Recently, the first training event on online lending for our small business owners was held in Bali, Indonesia. The event was led by our new partner organization BPR-SIWI. BPR SIWI captured the impressions in this video.
General meeting with surprise guest and board elections
Live from the Philippines, our project manager Anthony Agones was present at this year's virtual general meeting. Anthony offered the enthusiastic audience exciting insights into his work and personal experiences on site. While our CEO acted as translator, Anthony reported on the challenges he and his team had to [...]
Financial independence for Indonesian women – International Women’s Day in Indonesia
The aid organization Global Micro Initiative e.V., based in Hösbach, shows how women in Indonesia make a valuable contribution to the local economy and finance their families with their own income. Even a small start-up financing is enough. International Women's Day first took place just over a hundred years [...]
Reliable supply for neighbours with a delivery service during the ongoing corona pandemic
Place: Denpasar, Indonesia Age: 33 Business: Delivery Service Loan: IDR 3 Mil./177€ Dewa is a 33-year-old male who grew up in Karangasem, a regency in the east of Bali with a population of about 400.000. Meanwhile he is residing in Denpasar which is the biggest [...]
Working at dizzying heights – no problem for Bagus
Place: Badung, Bali, Indonesia Age: 24 Business: Internet-Installation Loan: IDR 2 Mil./117 € Bagus is a 24-year-old man who lives in Badung – a regency in the Indonesian island Bali. He lives together with his wife and their newborn child in a 16m² apartment. The [...]
Reaching even more people with combined expertise
Starting in the beginning of 2019, when the cooperation with our former partner organization on Bali named WKP Foundation ended, we were looking for new ways to continue our work in the capital Denpasar to enable people in poverty to live a better and self-determined life. Through our collaboration [...]
How mobile payments are helping our entrepreneurs during quarantine
During the COVID-19 pandemic, our participants are finding that Gcash Send Money is the easiest and fastest way to transfer money, whether it's to send or remit money to loved ones or to make payments to online merchants or other small and medium businesses. Through Gcash, our participants can [...]
New video: Sohrini
Sohrini is a grocer and goes from door to door every day to sell her goods. Together with her husband, who is a bamboo weaver, she works hard to be able to offer her two children a perspective for the future and to finance their schooling. With the help [...]
Increased satisfaction due to own online shop sales
Nurul Aini is aged 22 and lives together with her mother-in-law and her two daughters aged 7 and 2 on the island of Lombok in Indonesia. Nuruls husband is in Malaysia as a guest worker. He´s working in the palm oil production industry for 5 years. Nuruls husband lives [...]
Do you pay attention to security on the Internet?
Online shopping and online banking with a smartphone are routine for most people in Germany these days. However, the situation is completely different for small businesses in the poor regions of Southeast Asia. Dealing with the Internet and online banking is new territory for most of them. With [...]
Within the Pandemic – Newly granted microloans in Lombok
We were able to grant new microloans in Lombok after several months of delay with payouts. Our microloan participants in Indonesia´s island Lombok are severely hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and its restrictions on daily life. Our new microloan participants consist of 7 small business owners which are [...]
How to celebrate? – Christmas in the Philippines
A colorfully decorated fir tree, snow on the roofs, contemplative music, the whole family at a beautifully decorated table and presents for young and old - that's how Christmas looks like for most of us. But do all people in this world celebrate Christmas and is it the same [...]
Do you have your own bank account?
If you´re from Germany and answer this question with “yes “, then you belong to the 82.3 million population for whom it´s natural to have an own bank account. Having a bank account is an exception in the poorer rural areas of Indonesia's island Lombok. We would like [...]
Success Story: Susana
Susana hat schon immer hart gearbeitet und war unternehmerisch aktiv. Neben Polvoron, einem weichen und krümeligen Schmalzgebäck, welches ursprünglich aus Spanien kommt, verkaufte sie auch Atchara, eine Gurke, die aus unreifer Papaya geschält wird. Beides sind sehr bekannte und beliebte Spezialitäten auf den Philippinen. Mit dieser Geschäftsidee konnte sie ihre [...]
International Volunteer’s Day
"Without a team of volunteers, our work in Southeast Asia would not be possible," says Tobias Schüßler, founder of Global Micro Initiative e.V. The "International Day of Volunteers for Economic and Social Development", also known in Germany as the "International Volunteer Day", takes place on December 5 of each year. [...]
Virtually Connected: First Webminar held in the Philippines
The Corona crisis is also driving the digitalization of our processes and activities at GMI and our partner organization Project Life. In addition to enabling online banking, the first official webinar was held on October 5, 2020 with nine of our Philippine microcredit borrowers. For two and a half hours, [...]
Anto
Place: Pringgasela, East-Lombok, Indonesia Age: 50 Business: Bakulan (Selling door to door) Loan: 58 € Inaq Anto lives together with her family in a small village located in Pringgasela which is located in the east of Lombok. Inaq has four children and is currently married for the [...]
Update from Indonesia
Our aim to open a bank account for all of our microloan participants is progressing during September. The representatives of our partner organization “Gema Alam” regularly visit our microloan participants. During these visits our participants aquire knowledge for the use and “risks” of owning a bank account. To our regret [...]
50 % on top of your Donation!
"Using digital payment options to fight poverty" is the motto of our new donation campaign. Our goal: We would like to give more than 100 small entrepreneurs from Southeast Asia the chance for a better and self-determined future through access to digital payment and sales opportunities. Help to open up [...]
Update: a bank account for all participants
Unser neues Großprojekt „Ein Bankkonto für alle“ ist gestartet. Wir sind froh, dass die ersten drei Kleinunternehmerinnen aus Indonesien nun Besitzerinnen eines Bankkontos sind. Unser Digital Ambassador, Rizal, berichtet von dem Prozedere und den dabei entstandenen Herausforderungen: „Es kamen einige Schwierigkeiten bei der Eröffnung der Konten und des mobilen Bankings [...]