When Tauala Apineru Pulou received her first South Pacific Business Development (SPBD) loan in 2013, it was WST$ 1,000 and enough to start a small baking business.
She made donuts and pancakes and sold them in her community.
Thirteen years later, the 59-year-old mother of five from Matatufu has become the recipient of SPBD Samoa’s historic 125,000th loan, a WST$50,000 financing thatreflects how far her business journey has grown.
Tauala, a member of the Lotofaga Aleipata A Centre, has completed 15 loan cycles and received approximately WST$291,750 in total financing from SPBD.
Her businesses now include a retail store, four taxis and a taxi stand, petrol sales, crop farming, roadside produce sales and livestock farming, including cattle and pigs.
Her journey is at the centre of SPBD Microfinance (Samoa) Ltd’s latest milestone, reached 26 years after the organisation began operations in Samoa in 2000.
SPBD has now disbursed 125,000 loans to clients, representing approximately SAT $293 million in total loan disbursements. For Tauala, however, the numbers tell only part of the story.
“SPBD empowered me to make use of the talents that God gave me,” she said.
“From a simple beginning in 2013, baking donuts, to becoming a businesswoman and being able to provide for my family makes me a proud mother.”
Tauala said her businesses have helped pay her children’s school fees and provided income for family, church and community obligations.
She also identified discipline as an important part of her progress, saying she learned to invest loans back into the business and remain disciplined in making repayments.
SPBD Samoa General Manager Paula Fa’u said Tauala’s experience represented the significance behind the organisation’s 125,000 loans.
“Behind every one of those 125,000 loans is a story , a mother providing for her children, a woman starting a small business, school fees being paid, homes beingimproved and families becoming more financially independent,” Fa’u said.
He said the organisation’s impact could not be measured only by the $293 million in unsecured financing provided across Samoa, but by the confidence, dignity and hopethat come when people are given an opportunity to improve their own lives.
Fa’u said Tauala’s story reflected the Bible verse Zechariah 4:10: “Do not despise these small beginnings.”
“Most of our clients have started small, selling food, handicrafts, crops or operating small shops.”
“When those small beginnings are combined with hard work, discipline and opportunity, they can grow into something powerful,” he said.
SPBD Samoa also acknowledged SPBD Microfinance Network Founder and President Gregory Casagrande, whose vision led to the organisation’s establishment inSamoa 26 years ago.
“What started in Faleufi in 2000 with a simple vision to give women access to financial opportunities has now reached 125,000 loan disbursements,” Fa’u said.
“We are grateful to Greg, our former and current staff, and most importantly our clients, who have been part of this journey.”
A previous Samoa Observer story reported that SPBD Microfinance had disbursed USD $250 million in loans since its inception in 2000 and supported more than 115,000 Pacific Island women micro-entrepreneurs.
Reprinted from: https://www.samoaobserver.ws/category/samoa/121877/?cont=true
