US Power & Environment is a Proud Sponsor of African NGO's Like Samaratin's Purse and American Refugee Committee International. For the past US Power & Environment dedicates a portion of its revenues to helping build schools, care for children in need, prevent disease and bring hope to war-torn regions. Please join us in supporting organizations like Samaratin's Purse and ARC - and help to truly make a difference in people's lives in Africa and around the world.

Micro-Enterprise Development

Around the world, conflict and disaster turn people's lives upside-down and force them to flee their homes. These people are then separated from their jobs, businesses, and farms. They work hard to make ends meet, but they hardly get by. Many try to start small businesses to support their families but just don’t have the resources to get going.

ARC’s microenterprise development programs provide people with the resources that will make their small business take off. ARC provides small loans and grants to entrepreneurs - often all a person needs is a loan of $50 to start a business that will support their entire family. ARC also teaches entrepreneurs the skills and knowledge they’ll need to make their business survive and be successful.

ARC’s microenterprise development programs are critical to helping local Africans rebuild productive lives and families. However, this microenterprise development programs do more than increase income and build self-sufficiency for these individuals. They contribute to economic growth, alleviate poverty, and reduce unemployment for entire communities. Microenterprise development programs are one of the most powerful ways of creating lasting and widespread change.

ARC runs Microenterprise Development programs in: Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Balkans, Sri Lanka, Rwanda and Sudan.
ARC's Microenterprise Development Services:

• Small Business Training and Development
  
• Small business loans
  
• Savings Mobilization
  
• Small grants
  

  Interesting Statistics:
  

  Nearly 95% of the micro-loans made by ARC are repaid in full by loan recipients - a far higher repayment rate than banks in the U.S. and Europe enjoy.
  

  More than 75% of ARC’s loan and business skills training recipients are women.
  

  A study of 63 countries found that improving women’s education and opportunities was the single most important factor in reducing childhood malnutrition.
  

  Read the micropaper: Refuge to Return: Operational Lessons for Serving Mobile Populations in Conflict-Affected Environments

  Get an update on microfinance in Liberia and Sierra Leone in Notes From the Field: Robust Microfinance Sectors Post Conflict

  Read the new Sail Manual: A Stepped Approach for Improving Livelihoods

  Form more information on some of the NGO's US Power & Environment sponsors, click the links below:
  www.compassion.com
  www.samaritanspurse.org
  www.arcrelief.org

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