The NF program was started in Oakland, California, US on August 4, 2020, in collaboration with CDF, a California-based nonprofit organization. The project continued with remarkable success and was discontinued in December 2023. CDF discontinued their work and closed the shop. Due to the recirculation of the initial amount of $40,000, CDF gave 300 loans, totaling $131,000 through the end of April 2023. CDF recovered $37,458, from the original amount of $40,000.
Success Stories
Approximately five years ago, Rita was diagnosed with diabetes and later cancer. She had to apply for disability income. But her overall income dropped substantially, causing problems paying her monthly bills. Two years later, her husband suffered a work injury on one of his shoulders and began receiving disability income as well.
The Nano Finance program offers smaller loans for people with financial difficulties. The loans have no interest or fees. Rita became a borrower in this program. This loan program has been very important to Rita and her family by allowing her to fully pay her bills and rent during difficult economic times, first the pandemic and then rising inflation, especially for housing and food and medical costs. The OB funds have been crucial to her and her household in helping them get through these difficult times.
Today is a rewarding day for one of our clients. This is a woman who lives alone and works (two jobs) very hard to cover her personal expenses. She is an excellent client of our loan program. She came and told me that she had a dental emergency but that she did not have money to cover such treatment. She asked two of her friends if they could lend her some money to go to the dentist, but they did not have it. I then told her that she was in the right place at the right time because Our Biswas has a loan program without interest or fees, created to help women with unexpected expenses. We ended up making her a loan which would cover the total amount of her emergency. She was very happy and mentioned that this was a blessed day for her. Thank you for making it possible to help our clients in this way. It was a great day for our client, and it was for us, as well.
