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Life Savings Doubled

27/8/2014

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Nak Vorn has doubled her life savings doing 35 hours' work as a microfranchisee! Nak is a 36-year-old mother of four from Prey Svob village. In her first chicken-raising cycle she earned an amazing profit of US$32.49 for one extra hour's work a day. Before joining our programme, her total life savings amounted to US$16.00. Half of Nak's US$32.49 profit is reinvested into her business, the other half she can spend on her family.

Previously, her main income source was from growing vegetables seasonally for six months of the year. For this she earned around US$1.35 per day for eight hours' work. As a result, her family has gone without regular protein, sanitation, or clean drinking water in the past.

Life savings nearly doubled - Ouk Chhav

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Ouk Chhav is in our second microfranchisee group and earned US$48.23 (NZ$57.00) in his most recent chicken-raising cycle (after expenses). He achieved this working approximately one hour per day. Before joining the programme his main income earning activity was growing vegetables on one hectare of land, which only earned him around US$1.25 per day. His total life savings before joining up amounted to US$25.00, so the extra $48.00 has also nearly doubled his life savings and will help him provide for his family.  

To find out more on how to be part of this program, please click here.
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Welcome Mr Ry!

25/8/2014

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We're delighted to welcome Mr Ry (pictured above) to our team on the ground. We've recently employed 32-year-old Mr Ry to work in a support role for the microfranchisees. We realised that the villagers need more assistance to successfully raise their chickens, so Mr Ry will provide training and support to help the microfranchisees keep their chickens healthy along with managing chicken feed and transporting stock.

Mr Ry is very well-suited to the role with past experience as an NGO community facilitator. He has a Bachelor's degree in agronomy from Cambodia's National School of Agriculture and has undertaken leadership, communication and HR management training through Oxfam. He's even completed training in value-chain analysis so his skills will be invaluable to help us involve the ultra-poor in the poultry value-chain.

To find out how you can help, click here.

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A new micro-farm to double incomes & savings of more ultra-poor families

21/8/2014

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Our original chicken coop which is now falling down.
We’re about to embark on a whole new stage in our development! After three years of working on our franchising programme, we’ve outgrown our NGO partner’s small school site. This is where we currently raise one-day-old chicks through their vaccination period for the microfranchisees. We’ve also outgrown our central chicken coop which is starting to fall apart.

So it’s time to develop a micro-farm. The farm will be used to expand our central chicken coop facility so we can increase capacity, test new franchisable concepts and improve production methods (for example recycling the chicken manure). We’ll also raise and sell chickens at the farm to cover operational costs within Cambodia.

We anticipate that a micro-farm will support around 250 families to run their microfranchises. Over time, we plan to replicate this model to other regions in Cambodia and South East Asia.

We’ve now located a perfect piece of land (114m x 42m) for our first micro-farm, which is 2km from our current centre in Chhouk. We plan to build five broiler coops and a base for our project there, as well as dig a well and fence off the property for security, in partnership with local NGO World Education School.


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The new micro-farm land (total area 114 x 42 metres, 2km from Chhouk).
We’re excited about this next phase and we’re inviting you to help us.

To secure the land and pay for infrastructure, we need to raise NZ$12,000 by November 2014.

We’ve already raised 10% ($1,200) of the $12,000 needed by way of a donor who has committed to match, dollar for dollar, the first $1,200 raised. That means for every $1.00 you put in there will be a $2.00 benefit, up to the first $2,400.

We’ve set up a give-a-little zero fees fundraising page - every dollar counts and no contribution is too small. To help us achieve our goal so we can help more ultra-poor people, click here to donate. 

In appreciation,
Gerard and Hana Wakefield
Co-founders

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New TALKINGtech Foundation and Catalyst Partnership

4/8/2014

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What better way to generate long-term improved education and healthcare for the disadvantaged than by promoting “self-sufficiency, empowerment, and personal growth.” TALKINGtech Foundation has recognised our ‘barefoot franchising’ approach which merges business and philanthropy, and has chosen to partner with us.

As a non-profit social enterprise we’re extremely grateful to partner with TALKINGtech, so we can continue providing solutions which address the actual causes of poverty.

Here’s what TALKINGtech has to say about our programme:
“The TALKINGtech Foundation actively seeks to partner with organisations using innovative approaches to deal with social and economic issues facing the underprivileged in our global community. Without a doubt Catalyst Microfranchising is one of these such organisations.

 From the first time we were introduced to Catalyst’s unique concept of microfranchising for the ultra-poor, it simply made sense. The model moves away from dependency based support and encourages self-sufficiency, empowerment, and personal growth. Hopelessness is a major factor for many marginalised families. Catalyst provides these individuals with a proven small business and the skills required to take control of their own future. This opportunity not only provides them with much needed additional income but creates belief that they can make a difference for themselves.

 Many charitable organisations target symptoms, rather than causes. Catalyst is devoted to focusing on the fundamental causes of poverty and provides an achievable solution.

 The TALKINGtech Foundation is proud to partner with Catalyst Microfranchising to support the important work they do for the ultra-poor in Cambodia.”
To see an amazing example of a global business ‘doing good,’ check out TALKINGtech Foundation’s website.

To find out more about ways you can help our programme, click here.
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    our story

    We founded Catalyst social enterprise after living in South East Asia and seeing first-hand the daily struggle rural villagers face in meeting their basic needs. 

    Although Cambodia is a fast-developing, dynamic country, 57% of Cambodians still live on less than US$2.00 per day, and 90% of Cambodia's poor live in rural areas which lack even the most basic of infrastructure, a legacy of three decades of civil war and unrest.
     
    After running a small-scale microloan programme in 2009, we found that partipants struggled to pay back even small microloans.

    Abandoning the aid approach we instead spent a lot of time talking to people who earn less than $2.00 per day to find out the help they needed and wanted. 

    In partnership with a local development entrepreneur we developed a locally-led social business to give villagers a competitive advantage.

    We exist to create social impact that is economically and environmentally sustainable.
                                              Gerard & Hana Wakefield

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