Eliphas in his shop

Growing Entrepreneurs

How you’re walking alongside a poor Kenyan farmer to help him prosper

Dear Family,

Eliphas has what some call an entrepreneurial spark. Growing up in rural Kenya, he worked hard just to survive. He worked faithfully on his family’s small farm, especially during harvest, and eventually quit school so he could spend more time on the farm. When he married, his father gave him a small portion of his land so he could support his family.

Using profits from his meager harvests, Eliphas opened a small store on the dirt road outside his home. He filled the simple shop with whatever he could afford, such as cell phone minute cards, soft drinks and snacks. Lacking capital it was difficult to stock many in-demand products. Business stagnated.

But then Eliphas met Silas, a micro-banker for Heaven’s Family’s Microloan Ministry. Borrowing $400 he stocked his store with more popular items such as soap, sugar, margarine, salt and rice—but now at wholesale prices. Business boomed.

Eliphas repaid his loan, then applied for another to invest in large bags of seed and fertilizer to sell from his shop to other farmers in his area. Silas had spotted the entrepreneurial spark in Eliphas, and encouraged it.

At left, Eliphas with the shop he opened with his first loan; at right, showing us a sample of the new products he’s able to stock with his second loan

Upon meeting Eliphas he told me, “Please send my love and greetings to all the donors of Heaven’s Family. You have done more than just give us a loan, you have walked alongside us…and now we are somewhere we weren’t before.”

Thank you, Family, for walking alongside Eliphas and other entrepreneurs like him!

God’s richest blessings,

Isaac Shepherd

Microloan Ministry

Silas, pictured below, is a local pastor who runs a retail business and also farms, selling his coffee beans for a profit. All these skills help him to be a better micro-banker and share his business knowledge with his borrowers