Overview
South Pacific Business Development Foundation (SPBD) is a Grameen Bank style
micro finance organization serving those living in poverty in the
Pacific Islands. Our first target market is the island nation of Samoa.Within Samoa, SPBD is targeting the 48% of the population that the UNDP has declared as being food deficient. Within Samoa we seek to generate 10,000 clients within the next five years.
SPBD's Vision & Mission
Our vision is to become the leading microfinance institution (MFI) in the South Pacific. SPBD's mission is to improve the quality of life of poor families of Samoa by providing training, unsecured credit, ongoing guidance and motivation to help our clients start, grow and sustain micro-businesses. Therefore, we aim to become a financially self-sustaining organization (i.e. revenues to cover all costs) resulting in the realization of an organization permanently dedicated to serving the financial needs of the poor of Samoa and South Pacific.
Micro Finance Provides Opportunity
Micro Finance has proved to be one of the most powerful engines in the global effort to end the crushing poverty that deprives hundreds of millions of the world's people of sustenance and hope.
It is based on the idea that if you give a poor person a very small loan for use in a self-employment venture, you will get an amazing return on your investment. The borrower will not only work to end their poverty, but they will also improve the life of their family and strengthen their community.
Micro Finance programs have given many of the world's poorest people the opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty altogether. The increases in household income allow borrowers to provide greater quantities and more nutritious foods to their families, to educate their children and to improve their houses.
SPBD also Provides Credit for Housing Improvement and Childhood Education
In addition to our micro-entrepreneurial support, SPBD also provides both unsecured housing improvement and childhood education loans to members
who have already successfully started a micro business and paid down at
least one SPBD micro business loan.
Accomplishments
Since distributing its 1st micro-enterprise loan in January 2000, SPBD has helped over 10,000 poor Samoans in over 150 villages build small businesses. This was achieved through the ongoing training and motivation of SPBD's members and supported by the distributing of over ST$25 million or US$9.3 million in micro-enterpise loans to these members.
SPBD has built and trained a team of 22 skilled Samoans, secured the necessary infrastructure and established core operating, administrative and financial processes. SPBD now has significant operating capacity in place to significantly increase its outreach.
SPBD's growth in its outreach to the poor and in its administrative capacity have earned it the distinction of being the first successful large-scale microfinance organization in the entire South Pacific region.
Legal Status, Affiliations & Financial Disclosure
SPBD is registered locally on January 18, 2000 both as a non-profit charitable organization under the Charitable Trust Act 1965 and as a non-governmental organization. It means that all income must be re-invested in the organization to the benefits of SPBD's members. SPBD is governed by the 4-member Board of Trustees through its charter and bylaws.SPBD is an affiliate of the Grameen Bank worldwide microfinance network and is partially funded by Grameen Trust. Locally, SPBD is a member of Samoa Umbrella for Non-Governmental Organizations and Samoa Chamber of Commerce. Internationally, SPBD is a member of PlaNet Finance Microfinance Platform and Microcredit Summit Campaign Council of Practitioners.
SPBD is a transparent organization. We regularly provide management and financial reports to our funding partners and important stakeholders. We welcome all interested parties to inspect and audit our operations. We regularly provide information about our financing activities to the Central Bank of Samoa. We send a newsletter every quarter to numerous people and organizations around the world to update them about our progress and activities.
We are audited yearly by Betham & Co., Samoa's leading auditing and accounting firm. We have received unqualified auditing opinions for fiscal years 2000 - 2008. Audited financial statements and interim unaudited financial statements are available upon request.
