Deborah Meaden ‘inspired’ by $75-a-month seamstress
Published: 14 April, 2011
~Deborah Meaden visits people starting up businesses using loans through new micro-lending website lendwithcare.org ~ Dragons’ Den’s Deborah Meaden came face to face with entrepreneurs who she described as ‘inspirational’ during a recent trip to Cambodia with leading aid and development agency CARE International UK.
CARE took Deborah, their newly-appointed ambassador, to see how individuals in Cambodia, including seamstresses and garment makers, are using loans provided to them by individuals in the UK through new micro-lending website lendwithcare.org. Lendwithcare allows people to lend as little as £15 to entrepreneurs in poor communities around the world, enabling them to start or expand their small businesses, feed their families and educate their children.
Deborah met a range of entrepreneurs from poor communities, including a female farmer who used her loan to diversify her crops and rent essential farming tools, which increased her annual income. Another bought bamboo cases in order to sell a sweet rice snack from her stall. One was La Morm, a seamstress who used her loan to buy three sewing machines, to train girls from her village for a small fee.
Unlike business models Deborah is used to seeing, the seamstress’ new venture was not all about profit. Deborah said, “She decided to earn less money for herself, but involve more people in the village, simply because she treasures her community. In the UK I think that would be a very rare decision indeed…as entrepreneurs go, I found her to be pretty inspirational.”
Despite her Dragons’ Den persona, Deborah firmly believes profit can’t always be measured in cash terms. She said, “When I arrived I was expecting to sit, slightly Dragons’ Den style, and ask the typical questions: What do you buy it for, what do you sell it for, what are your margins? I began to realise very quickly that these are entrepreneurs in the raw; they’re not looking to become millionaires, they’re just looking to be able to live and be able to feed their family. They want to make enough money to keep themselves and their family safe. Once I understood this point, I realised that their output wasn’t just cash.”
Deborah explained why she is happy to support lendwithcare.org: “I really liked the idea of lendwithcare…I love this idea of putting together people who have money, and want to see what their money is doing, with people who need their money….I think that’s a magical combination. You get your money back, and that’s good because it means the project has been successful. But really, I think the success can be measured by the change it’s left behind.”
Case Study
La Morm is a 46-year-old seamstress. Although she makes special items, such as wedding dresses, her main business is now training other women in sewing. Her trainees make clothes to order for customers in Pnom Penh. They make 20-30 pieces per day and get paid by the piece. They pay La Morm $12 to train them, which takes two months.
La’s loan enabled her to buy machines for the trainees to use. She has five trainees at any one time. When they have finished their training, the trainees take home their machine and then take on the loan. A machine costs $150 each.
In total La makes about $75 per month. She previously made a little more money as a full-time skilled sewer, but by training she passes her skills on to other women too. “I’m happier than before because there are many people coming here to train and so now I have women I can talk to,” she said. La’s youngest students are 18.
La’s husband is a farmer. They have three children (one daughter and two sons) and are able to send them to school. One of her daughters also wants to become a seamstress.
Reflecting on how CARE International UK has helped La, Deborah commented: “I believe that providing the opportunity and framework for people to help themselves is the only sustainable way forward and I saw this very clearly on my trip to Cambodia. The people there are willing to work to repair their lives; they just need even the smallest of leg-ups to get them started.”
To change a life with a loan, please visit www.lendwithcare.org.
How you can help
Support CARE International’s poverty-fighting work around the world by taking on the Prima Solutions Adventure Challenge supported by Footwear Today. Cover a marathon on foot, bike and canoe in scenic Cannock Chase in Staffordshire on 21st May, alongside teams from across the fashion industry. www.carechallenge.org/primasolutions or call 020 7934 9470.
