Loan Plan Would Help Needy Women Succeed

A mother of six wants $3,000 to computerize her business. Groups would share the responsibility for loans, help others find lenders.

Marion Malimba, a mother of six and formerly homeless in Orange County, discussed her life softly and articulately with a group gathered on a recent weekday morning at UC Irvine’s stately University Club.

She said she had lived in 42 hotels with her children, and she had watched them do their homework in parking lots. The family now lives in subsidized housing in Anaheim. One of her three grown children is studying chemical engineering at UC Berkeley.

Malimba helps support her family by making engraved key-tags, which she sells through mail-order catalogues. She takes occasional part-time work, but she dreams of making her business into an enterprise that will support her family. She would like to raise $3,000 to computerize her engraving process so she could sell the tags as fund-raising items for school groups.

Malimba spoke at the request of a handful of people who are trying to start a loan program for poor women that would be called the Orange County Micro Enterprise Program. Several of the 50 guests--business people, social workers and university employees--came up to her afterward to say they were touched by her words and to offer their help.

“I feel that something great is happening,” she whispered to a friend across a table.

In general, microenterprise programs bring together a group of five people who want to start businesses but who lack the resources. The group chooses two people to help find a bank loan, and once those individuals’ businesses are under way, they help the others find lenders. The five agree to share responsibility for repaying the loans if one member defaults.

The program originated in Bangladesh, and the idea has since spread to Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines and South America. In the past four years, about 100 similar programs have begun in the United States.

Kathie Murty, a driving force behind the Orange County group, said the program is so good that every community eventually will have one.

Her view is supported by the success of a Los Angeles group, the Coalition for Women’s Economic Development. The group said it has loaned $110,000 to 55 people in 18 months and has had no loan defaults.

Murty relishes the idea that the United States is addressing its poverty problem with a program borrowed from developing nations.

“I love it. I love it,” she said. “That’s the best part. We’ve given lip service to that for a long time, that (developing countries) have a lot to teach us.”

Organizers say Orange County’s large immigrant population--many of whom are working poor--includes many who would benefit from a loan to start a home-based business or supplement their income.

“I know (the need) is there but don’t know numbers,” said Murty, who represents the Orange County Human Relations Commission and who helped found the Human Options women’s shelter in South County. “Whenever I talk to someone from a service agency, they say, ‘Yes, I know someone who could use that.’ ”

Gina Nga Le, a guest at the meeting, said she knows about 100 Vietnamese women who are doing piecework in their homes, sewing pants and shirts for 75 cents to $1 each. Le is a program coordinator for the Orange County Refugee Community Resources Opportunity Project in Westminster. She said these women, whose lack of English makes it difficult for them to find other jobs, often borrow sewing machines. A small loan could help them buy their own equipment and materials and start a business where they would have more independence.

Immigrant women who work outside the home often live below the poverty line in Orange County, said Lilia Powell, director of the Orange County Coalition for Immigrant Rights and Responsibilities. They could supplement their incomes with a home-based business--such as housecleaning, yardwork or sewing--but most don’t have the extra money to invest in a vacuum cleaner or lawn mower. Small loans of $100 to $1,000 could make the difference. But most banks won’t bother with loans that small, especially to customers with no collateral or credit history.

Besides Powell’s and Murty’s groups, some other supporters of the loan program include the Colonial Bank of Tustin, the Orange County Minority Business Council, the Junior League of Orange County, the YWCA and state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach). Organizers have scheduled a meeting for Nov. 21 in Santa Ana. For information, contact Shirley and Sumner Williams at (714) 720-1140.

A piece of the puzzle not yet in place is where the loans will come from. Other groups have solicited a particular bank to provide the loans.

Besides supervising the program, loan officers give financial seminars for group members.

A man stopped by to thank Murty after the meeting, and he assured her that the bankers at his table enjoyed the morning’s program. So, there is some uncertainty there and some hope.