VILLAGE BANKING: Chairman Nelson envisioned micro-finance for developing countries first, in 1993, while attending University at Norwich University. In papers published in 1994, Nelson outlined a global plan for Village Banking. Today the Nelson Foundation works with several NGO's and other private foundations to provide Village Banking, FINCA is one of the largest organizations funded with resources of the Nelson Foundation and associated companies of it's founder. What is Village Banking? By providing very poor families with small loans to invest in their microenterprises, Village Banking empowers them to create their own jobs, raise their incomes, build assets, and increase their families' well-being. Here's how it works. Neighbors come together in financial support groups called "Village Banks." Individuals borrow working capital for their microenterprises, and because they have little to offer for collateral, the group guarantees those loans. As businesses grow, families earn more, purchase more nutritious foods, and parents are better able to send their children to school. After a year or more, many Village Bankers make significant improvements to their businesses, their homes, and their lives. Because neighbors support each other while growing their businesses, Village Banking helps invigorate entire communities. Village Banking is designed to reach the poorest of the working poor. FINCA clients—70 percent of whom are women—have no other sources of working capital. FINCA works closely with its clients to help them build their businesses so they can earn more, become part of the larger marketplace, and enter the global economy. In addition to working capital, we provide them with insurance, savings plans, and other services to help them weather crises such as illness or death in the family, or natural disasters. The Village Banking project draws upon many of the principles written about by Nelson in 1994, the Village Banking Campaign is headed by FINCA International and enables FINCA to more than DOUBLE its impact, using the power of microfinance to extend loans, microinsurance, and savings to more than ONE MILLION poor families by 2010, enabling those working poor to effect their own development by being productive themselves.

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