February 12 Entrepreneurs

We have returned home from our fourth journey to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in all we have spent three months in Congo. We have stayed with, had our meals together with and worked together with Congolese women and men. It has been an instructive time. For us it has been a way to get to know people of the DRC. We have received first-hand information to build our understanding on. But we have also had the advantage to meet and talk to people with extensive experience of Congo. All of this has given us a good foundation to stand on in our efforts to make an effective contribution in Congo. But we are nowhere near finished to finally determine our perception of the country. Every new day in Congo comes with new information about how to make progress and how to help our entrepreneurs to become successful. We want them to become self-sustaining and create profits from their own work that will increase the standard of living for themselves and for others. One part of this is that the loans must be repaid to the last krona, and so far it works well.

Each of the three tools of MSG, education, business loans and follow-ups are important, but we realize that education is the most important. To acquire knowledge of how to handle your economy is the alpha and omega. In the future, we will put more effort on the sharing of knowledge and make the education more thorough. The loan is like a starter motor that ignites the business, but it it the knowledge and skills of the entrepreneur who, like an engine puts the vehicle, i.e. the business in motion. This is not to say that the loan is not important. To all of you who support us financially, keep it up for anything in the world. You set the pace of the expansion of our work. The follow-ups will go on for two years, and during that time we will also provide additional training. Then, the goal is that the entrepreneurs shall be self-sustaining. For those entrepreneurs who have been proficient and wish to have more support after the two years, we will provide such in different ways.

We try to account for everything we do, both problems and progresses, as openly as possible on our web site. A reason for the openness is to revise the distorted image that many people in the Western world have of Congo. We also hope that our web site could be an opener to people who wants to make a difference there. From the amount of visitors we have on the web site, we conclude that our travelogue and what we do is appreciated. In February, we had 1654 unique visitors, who have made 5357 visits and opened 20421 pages. The visitors are spread around the world. Do keep on visiting and reading our web site. We would like it to be a information channel from Congo. A bridge between Congo and the rest of the world.

Most of you readers are still on the grandstand. We want you to come down to the ground and participate in the match against poverty in Congo. You can donate through our payment system, or in other ways transfer money to our bank account. You yourself, and your competence is possibly the greatest resource that you can contribute. We need many coworkers to the different projects we run. Contact us and tell us about yourself, and we could probably find you a project. If you use Facebook or other social media, please spread our information and good news about Congo. We want everyone who reads our web site to be involved in the match in one way or another. Together we can change the world!