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PRESS RELEASE: SPBD Microfinance Surpasses US$200M in Loans to Low-Income Women Entrepreneurs

Apia, Samoa, August 20, 2021 – The SPBD Microfinance Network, headquartered in Newark, NJ, achieved another impressive milestone today, surpassing US$ 200 million in “micro loans” disbursed to tens of thousands of hardworking women entrepreneurs since its founding in 2000. New Jersey native and SPBD Founder and President Greg Casagrande reflects, “Since our inception in […]

Cyclone Ravages Fiji

On Saturday, February 20th, tragedy struck Fiji as Tropical Cyclone/Hurricane Winston, the most powerful cyclone to hit the Southern Hemisphere, devastated the country. This storm ripped through Fiji causing at least 42 deaths, flattening villages and leaving debris in place of homes, and destroying crops and livelihoods in just hours. An estimated 35,000 people remain […]

Handicraft entrepreneur, SPBD Business Woman of the Year

Handicraft entrepreneur and mother of six, Susitina Tesi (45) won the SPBD Business Woman of the Year Award this morning, Friday 18 September, for improving her family handicraft-making business, using the South Pacific Business Development Microfinance program. Susitina from Ma’ufanga said she joined the program and took out small loans to help expand her family’s […]

Summer intern 2015 – Casey Moran

Spending the summer at MicroDreams / SPBD was an unbeatable experience that will stay with me for years to come. As someone looking to enter the business / finance world, I was able to immerse myself in every aspect of their operations. Not only was I able to dig into the financial statements and help […]

RC Manubhai Partners With SPBD to Assist Women

RC MANUBHAI and South Pacific Business Development (SPBD) have signed an agreement to help women with small businesses upgrade their homes. The signing took place at the RC Manubhai retail office in Raiwaqa yesterday. The joint venture will allow women who are members of SPBD to purchase items from RC Manubhai through the loan scheme […]

PM Sogavare Awed by SPBD

PRIME MINISTER Hon. Manasseh Sogavare has expressed awe at the pace the South Pacific Business Development (SPBD) Microfinance network has taken in advancing its mission to improve the quality of life of financially underprivileged families in Solomon Islands through its microfinance scheme. The Prime Minister made the remark yesterday when an SPBD delegation paid a […]

A Way Out of Poverty

After a failed marriage, which produced three children, life was getting harder and complicated for Setaita Tinai. With her precious children — two daughters and a son — to look after, Tinai had to find a way to support the family. Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention. “Being divorced and having to care […]