Hair braids, the Phillipine milkfish and changing lives


Part of our goal in starting this blog was to give you a window into everyday life at eBay Foundation. Just what do we spend our day doing at the Foundation? This week has been one of the more interesting weeks here at the Foundation. It all started with an encounter with Nestor and the Phillipine milkfish pictured above.

This week, the Foundation helped to host the 3rd meeting of the Microenterprise Funders Group (MFG). The MFG is comprised of foundations, corporations and individuals who share an interest in funding microenterprise. The group was started by Sue Peters at the Mott Foundation a little over a year ago to bring folks together to learn more about the field of microenterpsie and to share strategies and best practices.

As a part of the meeting, the group (in total about 35 folks over a 2 day period) visited Lenders for Community Development (LCD). LCD is a non-profit financial institution that provides tools and training that enable people to transform their lives. Pictured to the right is their widely-recognized Executive Director, Eric Weaver, who tirelessly works to help LCD's clients move up the economic ladder.

During our visit to LCD, we had the chance to meet several of their clients, all of whom eloquently spoke about the impact their LCD financing has had on their lives. For example, we met Robin, owner of Braid It Up salon in San Jose, CA. For years, no bank would take a chance on Robin and provide her with a loan. Through LCD, Robin received a business loan of $10,000 to refurbish her salon and advertise her services. LCD also helped her develop a strategy to manage her money and build a savings plan. With support from LCD, Robin was able to make her dream of owning her own business a reality. Last year, Robin brought in over $100,000 in revenues!


We also heard from Nestor, owner of Heilings, who specializes in making a Phillipine delicacy, stuffed boneless milkfish. Nestor (pictured on the left) makes this labor intensive fish which he sells at local farmer's markets among other places. Initially, Nestor was making the milkfish for family and friends before he learned that there was a market for the fish. He then turned to LCD for a microloan which has enabled his passion for cooking fish to become a thriving business. Nestor, has manged to increase his production while maintaining the quality of his product (Nestor still wraps and cooks the fish in banana leafs vs. tinfoil). And word is out about Nestor's milkfish. He recently turned down an offer to mass produce his fish for commercial sale.

LCD has been a longtime partner of ours. We've always known that they were doing great work helping people to build assets-- a home, a small business, an education. We know they have provided over $6.3 million in loans to over 374 low-income entrepreneurs and directed over $80 million in community investments improving the lives of over 7,000 households. What you can't see from the numbers, and what we had the pleasure of seeing in person this week is how LCD has given their clients hope for the future and a sense of possibility and empowerment. Knowing that we have helped to contribute to this in some small way through our support of LCD makes coming to work everyday a real pleasure.