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Our Organization
Over the past 20+ years, we've used a grassroots model of economic development that combines training, seed capital grants, and mentoring to help committed people launch small businesses. Our exceptional staff of African nationals handles program delivery, approves business applications, disburses funds, and recruits, trains, and manages our village business mentors in Kenya and Uganda. Our program, combined with business owners' hard work, makes upward movement on the economic ladder possible.
Our zeal for rendering poverty obsolete is contagious. In the past 5 years, we've seen donations grow from $300,000 to $1,000,000. Most of our support comes from caring individuals who want to make a difference. Foundations, churches, and corporations have also joined the cause. The combined pool of funds supported 50,000 people in the past fiscal year. Just think: The total cost of transforming one person’s life is only $20!
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Hard-working people struggling to care for their families. Children lacking food, education, health care, and hope. Gracious men and women using meager resources to provide meals for guests. These are the people of rural East Africa. They live in the most impoverished region of the world, beyond the reach of most poverty reduction and microfinancing initiatives. They dream of a brighter future but lack the means to achieve it. Village Enterprise Fund (VEF) is in the business of turning their dreams into reality.
Through June 2010, we've launched 21,000 small businesses. Eighty-eighty percent continue beyond 1 year, and 75% are still going after 4 years. A third of our entrepreneurs start additional businesses.