MICROCAPITAL STORY: Australian Non-Profit Group Recycles Mobile Phones to Promote Microfinance

An Australian non-profit group, Enable Community, is promoting microfinance by recycling mobile phones. The group collects and refurbishes donated phones that are then distributed to micro-entrepreneurs. The organization’s purpose is to provide the working poor access to affordable communications. Enable Community gathers surplus phones through Australian community groups, churches, and businesses.So far, Enable Community has delivered about 60 phones to Yayasan Dinamik Sistim (YDS), a microfinance institution (MFI) in the Indonesian province of Aceh, and its clients. YDS, non-government organization (NGO), focuses on microfinance and micro-enterprise development. Financial data is not available on YDS. YDS is a partner of Opportunity International Australia, an Australian enterprise development organization committed to reducing poverty through micro-credit proliferation and training. Opportunity International Australia is a member of the global network Opportunity International, which raises funds to establish or invest in MFIs worldwide. As of June 2007, MFIs in the Opportunity International Network had over 1 million active clients globally and an aggregate loan portfolio of USD 450.2 million.

Enable Community hopes to soon start a project with a much larger unknown MFI in the Philippines which has 140,000 clients. Enable Community’s founder Matt Steine estimates there are approximately 12 million unused mobile phones in Australia. Mr. Steine’s goal is to get those phones in the hands of small-scale entrepreneurs offering them more flexibility in the way they conduct business. Mr. Steine is speaking to major telecommunications companies in Australian to encourage their support.

More information can be found about Enable Community on their website.

-Steven Craig

Additional Resources:

NineMSN: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=286578

Enable Community: http://www.enablecommunity.org.au/

Opportunity International Australia: http://www.opportunity.org.au

Opportunity International: http://www.opportunity.org

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