Contents

MicroPlace Mission...........................................................................................2
MicroPlace History........................................................................................2
Who are we................................................................................................3
How Does it Work......................................................................................3
Why it works..............................................................................................3
How do I invest?........................................................................................3
What impact can I have?...........................................................................3
Is my money at risk?.................................................................................4
What is microfinance?...............................................................................4
Do borrowers pay interest?.......................................................................4
MicroPlace FAQs............................................................................................4
What is MicroPlaces mission?...................................................................4
What makes MicroPlace unique from other organizations that support
microfinance?............................................................................................4
Why is MicroPlace about financial investments and not donations?.........5
If I already give to charity, why should I consider an investment through
MicroPlace?................................................................................................5
Why is MicroPlace an eBay company?.......................................................5
Does eBay make money from MicroPlace?................................................5
I see that MicroPlace is a member of FINRA. What does that mean?........6
What is Microfinance?...................................................................................6
How Microfinance Works...............................................................................6
A loan officer's typical day........................................................................6
Microfinance institutions............................................................................7
Microfinance loans.....................................................................................7
Small Loans. Big Impact...............................................................................7
History of Microfinance.................................................................................8
The Beginnings of the Microfinance Movement.........................................8
Explosive Growth.......................................................................................9
Microfinance goes Mainstream..................................................................9
Women and Microfinance.............................................................................9
Microfinance FAQs......................................................................................10

What is microfinance?.............................................................................10
How does microfinance help the poor?...................................................10
Why might a poor person prefer a loan to a donation?...........................10
Whats the future of microfinance?.........................................................10
What is a lending organization?..............................................................11
Does microfinance profit off the poor?....................................................11
Why are interest rates charged to borrowers higher than I expected?....11
Can the poor really pay back their loans? What is the overall repayment
rate?........................................................................................................11
Arent people poor because they dont want to work?............................12
Dont the poor need job training before they can be given loans to start a
business?.................................................................................................12
Global Poverty: An Overview......................................................................12
Poverty Causes and Effects...............................................................................13
Fighting Poverty..........................................................................................13
A Day in the Life of Saroja..........................................................................14
5:40 am...................................................................................................14
6:15 am...................................................................................................14
7:10 am...................................................................................................14
12:00 Noon..............................................................................................14
2:00 pm...................................................................................................15
7:30 pm...................................................................................................15
8:25 pm...................................................................................................15
9:35 pm...................................................................................................16

MicroPlace Mission
MicroPlaces mission is to help alleviate global poverty by enabling everyday people to make
investments in the worlds working poor.
Our idea is simple.
Microfinance institutions around the world have discovered an effective way to help the worlds
working poor lift themselves out of poverty. These organizations need capital to expand and
reach more of the working poor. At the same time, millions of everyday people here in the
United States are looking for ways to make investments that yield a financial return while
making a positive impact on the world. MicroPlace simply connects investors with microfinance
institutions looking for funds.
The result: more microfinance in the world, satisfied investors, and above all, fewer people
living in poverty.
MicroPlace History
When Tracey Pettengill Turner - a social entrepreneur and seasoned business executive - first
heard of microfinance, she was inspired by the prospect of a solution to global poverty that
mixed capitalism, human dignity, and old-fashioned hard work. Upon graduating from Stanford
Business School, Tracey headed for Dhaka, Bangladesh to find out if the reality of microfinance
lived up to her expectations. After working at the Nobel Peace Prize winning Grameen Bank for
a few months, she was convinced that microfinance was a powerful tool to help alleviate poverty.
Upon her return, Tracey discovered that the capital markets in the United States were beginning
to view microfinance as an attractive investment opportunity. However, only major financial
players like institutional and high net worth investors could invest. An everyday investor like
Tracey had no way to participate. That insight led to the vision of MicroPlace: a company that
enables everyday people to make investments in microfinance.
When eBay executives heard about MicroPlace, they were excited by the synergies between
eBays mission to provide economic opportunity and MicroPlaces vision to empower the
worlds working poor. They saw MicroPlace as an ideal opportunity to put eBays assets to work
in a way that could be truly world-changing. Powered by eBays expertise in connecting people,
creating marketplaces and processing online transactions, MicroPlace could deliver on its vision
to significantly impact global poverty.
MicroPlace officially became part of eBay in the summer of 2006.

Who are we
MicroPlace is a social business owned by eBay. We want to alleviate global poverty by offering
investments that enable loans to hardworking poor people.
What's a social business? It's a financially sustainable company that has a social mission.
How Does it Work
A loan of a $20 can allow a poor woman to start a business and work her way out of poverty. In
many countries, organizations that function like banks make loans to the poor. These
organizations need funds to lend to the poor. Your investment helps fund these organizations.
And, they are willing to pay you a return for the funds you invest. You can fight poverty and get
your money back with interest!
Why it works
Microfinance is one of the most effective poverty alleviation tools around because:

Microfinance is a hand- up not a hand out. Empowering people to help themselves is an

effective way to fight poverty.

When you give to charity you give your money away. When you invest your money, it
compounds while it is invested and is available to reinvest at maturity. You will always
have money to help a poor person start a business

How do I invest?
You can invest as little as $20. Here's how:

Open an investment account (just like at Schwab or another broker)

Use our search tools to find an investment on our site

Pay with either PayPal or your bank account

Receive your interest payments and your money at maturity back into your PayPal or
bank account

What impact can I have?

You can:

help a poor person start a business and work her way out of poverty

enable an institution helping poor people expand its business

participate in a solution that can help alleviate global poverty by helping people help
themselves!

Is my money at risk?
All investments carry some risk.
Historically, 97% of poor people have actually paid back their loans through good and bad
economic cycles. This means that the institutions that lend to them can generally pay you back
too. And, MicroPlace thoroughly vets these institutions to make sure they meet certain business
and regulatory requirements. To date, none of our institutions have ever defaulted on their
payments to investors.
What is microfinance?
It is an effective tool to fight poverty.
Poor people need access to financial services just like we do. Microfinance started out as small
loans that helped the poor start a business, earn income, build assets and move from mere
survival to planning for their future. It has expanded to savings, mortgages and many other
products.
Deutsche Bank estimates that over a 100 million poor people have benefited. However, we need
$250 billion to enable the billion people who live on less than $1 a day to work their way out of
poverty.
Do borrowers pay interest?
Yes they do. They are treated like business people and want to be!
These interest rates are higher than what we pay in the U.S. because the cost of servicing small
loans is very high. However, as more banks continue to engage with the poor as clients,
competition is heating up and interest rates are coming down.
MicroPlace FAQs
What is MicroPlaces mission?
MicroPlaces mission is to help alleviate global poverty by enabling everyday people to make
investments in the worlds working poor.
What makes MicroPlace unique from other organizations that
support microfinance?
MicroPlace is currently the only website that provides everyday investors with the ability to
make investments in the microfinance industry. Through MicroPlace, an investor can make
investments that earn financial returns while having a positive social impact.

Why is MicroPlace about financial investments and not donations?

Many in the microfinance industry believe that there is insufficient donation capital available to
fund the growth of microfinance. Many microfinance institutions recognize that accessing
investment capital is key to their growth. With this investment capital, these institutions can grow
more quickly and serve more of the working poor.
Furthermore, investments have a positive impact on the efficiency of the microfinance industry.
To access commercial capital, microfinance institutions have to be attractive investments. This
means that they have to operate efficiently to grow and expand their services. Efficient
operations result in more borrowers which results in an increase in the overall demand for
microfinance services. This virtuous cycle benefits all participants in the chain and results in
healthier microfinance organizations and fewer people in poverty.
If I already give to charity, why should I consider an investment
through MicroPlace?
Investing through MicroPlace provides an additional way for you to make a social impact. Most
individuals can only afford to donate a certain amount of money each year, based on their own
personal income and budget. MicroPlace offers you an opportunity to invest a portion of your
savings in investments that have the potential to generate a financial return while having a social
impact. These investments offer the potential to receive your investment back at maturity while
earning interest along the way. You can also choose to keep these funds invested for many years,
continuing to have social impact without having to contribute any additional funds.
Why is MicroPlace an eBay company?
When eBay executives heard about MicroPlace, they were excited by the synergies between
eBays mission to provide economic opportunity and MicroPlaces vision to empower the
worlds working poor. They saw MicroPlace as an ideal opportunity to put eBays assets to work
in a way that could be truly world-changing. Powered by eBays expertise in connecting people,
creating marketplaces and processing online transactions, MicroPlace could deliver on its vision
to significantly impact global poverty.
Does eBay make money from MicroPlace?
MicroPlace must charge fees to be a sustainable organization.
MicroPlace currently charges a fee to the organizations that offer investments through the
MicroPlace website. This fee covers MicroPlaces costs to support the website, provide customer
service and be compliant with security regulations. MicroPlace does not charge any fees to the
investor. Any profits generated by MicroPlace will be used to fund eBays socially beneficial
activities like the eBay Foundation.
I see that MicroPlace is a member of FINRA. What does that mean?
In order to offer investments to you on the website, MicroPlace must be registered as a brokerdealer with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a government agency that sets rules
for the securities industry. As a registered broker, MicroPlace must also join the Financial
Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the organization that provides compliance oversight for
the SEC. FINRA was created through the recent consolidation of the National Association of

Securities Dealers (NASD) and the member regulation, enforcement and arbitration operations of
the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
MicroPlace welcomes these regulations because they are designed specifically to protect those
we are trying to serve, the everyday investor.
What is Microfinance?
Microfinance is a simple but powerful tool that enables the poor to pull themselves out of
poverty. Most commonly, it involves making small loans to the working poor in developing
countries. These loans are usually less than $200 and are made by local organizations called
microfinance institutions. The loans are used by the working poor to establish or expand small
businesses that generate additional income for the family. This extra income allows a poor family
to buy food, access healthcare, educate their children, put aside savings and lay the foundation
for a better future.
Microfinance has emerged as an effective poverty alleviation tool because it is based on the
fundamental principle that human beings are motivated to do whatever it takes to make
themselves as well off as possible.
Consider the story of Puja Patel, a single mother who lives with her four children in a village in
India. With a $50 loan, she bought a sewing machine. She made clothes, sold them for a profit,
and repaid the loan with interest. She was also able to save some money to buy books and send
her children to the local school. This is microfinance in action.

How Microfinance Works

A loan officer's typical day
Maria Rosario Jimenez wheels her moped down a narrow street in the village of Acatan, located
on the outskirts of Guatemala City. She is the local representative and loan officer for FUNDA, a
microfinance institution that operates in the villages and suburbs of Guatemala City. She is on
her way to the house of one of the villagers for a weekly borrower meeting - a group of 30
women to whom FUNDA has provided loans for the past five years. This is her fifth and final
meeting of the day.
Most of the women are already there when she arrives, and the treasurer of the group is seated at
the table with a notebook and pen recording the borrowers loan payments. She is greeted with a
chorus of blessings, the traditional Mayan greeting. She notices some new faces, women who
have come with their friends and neighbors to hear about FUNDA and perhaps ask for their first
loan. Most of her clients use their loans to buy vegetables and raise poultry to sell in the market.
Others use them to buy threads to embroider the colorful and intricate clothes that traditional
Mayan women wear, which they sell to tourists in the city. As she looks around, she feels a
tremendous respect for these women, their courage, determination and spirit. She is proud to be
part of the process of helping them to better their lives.

Microfinance institutions
Microfinance institutions are located primarily in developing countries. They vary in structure,
sophistication, philosophy, size, scope of services and scale of operations. Most microfinance
institutions provide small loans to the poor in the areas they operate. Some provide additional
financial services such as insurance, micro-mortgages and savings products as well as social
services such as healthcare and education.
Services are delivered by employees of microfinance institutions who meet with borrowers in
their towns and villages or operate local branch offices. They travel on motorcycles, bicycles or
on foot, sometimes over long distances to meet with their clients. They coordinate meetings with
borrowers, provide training and are responsible for making and collecting loans.
Microfinance loans
Initial loan amounts are small, typically between $30 and $200, and have to be repaid in weekly
installments within three to six months. As borrowers establish their credit, they become eligible
for larger loans. Most of the loans do not require collateral. Borrowers will often form groups
whose members guarantee each others loan payments. Some microfinance institutions require
borrowers to establish a savings pattern before they can receive loans.
Loans are used by borrowers to start or expand businesses such as buying wholesale goods to sell
in markets, making and selling crafts, raising poultry and farming. Profits from these businesses
enable borrowers to repay loans, meet their basic needs and improve their daily living conditions.
Repayment of loans and interest from borrowers allows the microfinance institution to make
subsequent loans to the working poor, multiplying the value of each dollar in breaking the cycle
of poverty.

Small Loans. Big Impact.

Can a $50 loan really make a significant impact on a persons life?
Absolutely!
While $50 may seem small, it is important to remember that the working poor typically live on
less than $2 a day. To them, a $50 loan is roughly equivalent to an entire months income. With
that extra income, they can buy supplies or equipment that can help them start new businesses or
earn more income from their existing businesses.
Even a small increase in income can make a difference in their lives. First and foremost, extra
income can help a poor family meet basic needs: rice and vegetables for a daily meal, kerosene
for cooking, or mosquito nets to prevent disease. Hopefully, receiving a first loan is often only
the beginning of an ongoing process. Successful loan repayment allows borrowers to take out
additional, and often larger, loans. This helps them expand their income even further over time.

A steady and increasing source of income, however small, reduces a poor familys vulnerability
to the vagaries of their precarious existence. They can often begin to save money for the first
time, providing a financial safety net against unexpected problems. Savings also allow them to
access new comforts and services that can improve their living conditions. For example, a
mother might be able to afford to let her children go to school instead of sending them off to beg
in the streets or work in the fields. Or it might allow a family to save enough to replace their
plastic roof with one made of tin, or fix a long-broken window.
In this way, the small sum of $50 could be the difference for a poor woman between destitution
and a secure future for herself and her family. It can empower her to do things that women in her
society were never able to do, like serve in the local government, giving her a sense of pride,
achievement and dignity. It can provide security and hope, allowing her to fulfill her dream that
her children will live a better life than she could have ever imagined for herself.
History of Microfinance
The Beginnings of the Microfinance Movement
In 1974, famine struck Bangladesh. At the time, Dr. Muhammad Yunus was a professor of
economics at the University of Chittagong. Disillusioned by the elegant theories of economics
that could not explain the thousands of poor people dying of starvation on the streets, he was
determined to find a practical way to help the poor. During a visit to the nearby village of Jorba,
he was astounded to find that a sum of $27 could radically change the lives of 42 people in the
village. This was the sum of money they collectively needed to buy bamboo to make the stools
they sold to make a living. He took $27 from his pocket and made 42 loans to the stool makers in
this tiny village. They were able to pay him back with interest and take a step towards lifting
themselves out of poverty.
This simple idea that the poor could use credit to lift themselves out of poverty, led Dr. Yunus to
create The Grameen Rural Bank in 1983. Since its inception, it has made over $983 million in
loans to over seven million borrowers. Its methodologies have become the cornerstone of the
microfinance industry. In 2006, The Grameen Bank and Dr. Yunus were awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize.
Explosive Growth
In the 1970s and 80s, inspired by Grameens success, social innovators and organizations around
the world began to experiment with different programs to bring financial services to the poor.
Microfinance institutions proved that it was actually possible to build viable businesses through
lending to the poor. The number of microfinance institutions increased rapidly.
The 2006 Microfinance Summit Campaign Report estimates that there are now more than 3,000
microfinance institutions, serving more than 100 million poor people in developing countries.
The total cash turnover of these institutions world-wide is estimated at $2.5 billion and the
potential for new growth is outstanding.
Microfinance goes Mainstream
In the early years of microfinance, most organizations lending to the poor were funded by private
or government grants. In the1990s, it became apparent that microfinance institutions would be

unable to sustain their rapid growth rates if they depended solely on grants for funding. Many
microfinance institutions started to restructure their operations to make themselves attractive to
investors.
In recent years, many institutional and high net worth investors have begun to invest in
microfinance. Attracted by the high growth rates, funds focused on lending to microfinance
institutions were created. Today, major banks such as Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and
Citigroup have begun to offer products and services that enable investments in microfinance.
With MicroPlace, investment in microfinance truly goes mainstream. Everyday people now have
the opportunity to participate in this new industry by purchasing investments that earn a financial
return while making a positive social impact on the world.
http://www.grameen-info.org/bank/GBGlance.htm
http://www.microcreditsummit.org/pubs/reports/socr/2006.htm
Women and Microfinance
The vast majority of microfinance borrowers (84%) are women. This is partly because the
majority of the worlds unemployed are women and therefore a natural market for microfinance
services. Microfinance institutions also prefer to lend to women because they are more likely to
repay their loans on time. In fact, many experts believe that empowering women is the key to
ending poverty and its resulting social problems.
Although many women are initially hesitant to accept loans, their self confidence soars when
they realize they can run a successful business and repay their loans. They use their profits to pay
for things that will enhance their familys welfare, like education, healthcare and nutritious food.
Their status in their family and social circle increases. They tend to have fewer children. They
can therefore invest more in the health and education of each child making it more likely that
future generations will end the cycle of poverty.
Microfinance FAQs
What is microfinance?
Microfinance is a simple but powerful tool that enables the poor to pull themselves out of
poverty. Most commonly, it involves making small loans to the working poor in developing
countries which allows them to earn income and steadily pull themselves out of poverty.
How does microfinance help the poor?
Microfinance enables the working poor to start and grow small businesses. These businesses can
generate a sustainable source of income that enables the poor to improve their living conditions,
provide education to their children and build the foundation for a better future for themselves and
their family.
Why might a poor person prefer a loan to a donation?
At its core, microfinance is about human dignity. It is based on the old adage: "Give a man a fish,
you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and you have fed him for a lifetime."

Microfinance borrowers take great pride in their ability to lift themselves out of poverty through
their own initiative. They work hard to survive from day to day and a loan provides a way for
them to create a sustainable solution to their economic lot in life. A loan is attractive because
microfinance borrowers know that successful repayment can result in the opportunity to take out
more and bigger loans in the future. While a charitable donation can be helpful in the short-run, it
may not represent an ongoing source of financial support.
There are millions of poor people who live in the most dire of conditions for whom donations are
critical for survival. Microfinance does not target these people. It addresses a segment of the poor
that are looking for a hand up, not a hand out.
Whats the future of microfinance?
While microfinance is not a cure-all for global poverty, it is widely recognized as a powerful
solution to alleviate poverty among the working poor. It is one of the poverty alleviation
mechanisms that the UN Millennium Development Project has adopted to meet its goal to
eradicate poverty. A paper published by Accion International titled "Microfinance in the Next
Decade" predicts that the industry will reinvent itself with new players providing expanded
products and services. The paper also predicts that technology will be used to reduce the
transaction costs of service delivery, and innovative financial instruments will be developed to
raise capital.
The microfinance industry is poised for tremendous growth and is focused on scaling to meet the
needs of those who can benefit from its services.
What is a lending organization?
A lending organization is synonymous with a microfinance institution.
Microfinance institutions are located in developing countries around the world and deliver
financial services to the working poor such as loans, savings accounts and insurance. Many also
provide social services, such as basic healthcare and education for their clients and their families.
Does microfinance profit off the poor?
Microfinance institutions (lending organizations) exist in many forms. Some choose to focus on
the social mission of microfinance (poverty alleviation) instead of maximizing profit. Others
believe that maximizing profit enables them to scale to reach more of the working poor, thereby
maximizing their social impact.
It is generally believed that institutions and individuals are motivated to make themselves as well
off as possible and that microfinance has been successful because it is based on this principle.
Because borrowers, lenders, and investors alike are all motivated to make themselves better off,
their incentives to maximize profit are aligned and self-supporting.
Heres how it works. At the beginning of the chain, borrowers seek to profit from their small
businesses so they can improve their own personal financial situation. Generating profits from
their business enables them to increase their income, repay their loans and improve their credit.
Profit-seeking borrowers generate demand for the services of microfinance lending

organizations, enabling them to expand their business operations. However, scaling operations
requires accessing additional capital from investors. The more profitable and stable the lending
organizations, the more investment capital will be made available to them by individuals and
institutions, ultimately leading to more loans to the poor and more people lifting themselves out
of poverty.
Why are interest rates charged to borrowers higher than I
expected?
Lending organizations need to charge interest rates to cover their costs so they can operate as
viable institutions that provide services over the long term. Interest rates charged by lending
organizations vary by country and range between 18 and 60 percent. These rates have to cover
the high transaction costs of managing small loans, administrative costs, loan defaults and the
costs of borrowing capital to make these loans. While they may seem high, they are often a better
alternative to local moneylenders who can charge between 120 and 300 percent.4
Can the poor really pay back their loans? What is the overall
repayment rate?
Yes, they can. Borrowers have proven to be exceptionally creditworthy and repayment rates have
historically averaged 97 percent.5
Arent people poor because they dont want to work?
This is a common perception, but far from the truth. The poor live in poverty because they lack
opportunity, not because they lack a strong work ethic. Because they do not have access to
education or capital, they cannot find employment in the formal economy. They are forced to
make ends meet by whatever means they have at hand.
The following is a perspective from Mike Murray, co-founder of Unitus, "I thought the poor in
developing countries probably lacked work ethic, they didnt try hard enough. You know, if they
would just put their shoulder to the wheel, and try a little harder, and maybe wake up a little
earlier, and just go for it like we do here in America, then theyd have a better life. Well shame
on me, these people work incredibly hard. They have to, because if they dont, their babies starve
and people die. Their life stops! There is no safety net to catch them if they fall."6
Dont the poor need job training before they can be given loans to
start a business?
Some microfinance institutions do provide training and education to borrowers. The idea of
microfinance is brilliantly simple - loan poor people money on terms that are suitable to them,
teach them a few sound financial principles and they will help themselves.7 The working poor
typically use their loans to start businesses that are simple and rely on the skills and resources
they possess. These kinds of businesses seldom require formal training. The working poor
generate profits from their businesses because they work hard, have initiative and are motivated
to help themselves.
Anonymous
Elizabeth Rhyne and Maria Otero, "Microfinance through the Next Decade: Visioning the Who, What, Where,
When, and How," ACCION International, November, 2006.

 http://www.grameenfoundation.org/what_we_do/microfinance_in_action/faqs/
4

Ibid
http://www.gdrc.org/icm/data/d-snapshot.html
6
http://www.jawspeak.com/.../microfinance-to-alleviate-...-poverty-through-capitalism
7
Muhammad Yunus, 2003, Banker to the Poor, (Public Affairs).
5

Global Poverty: An Overview

A common measure of poverty is income. A person is considered poor if their income falls below
some minimum necessary to meet basic needs. This minimum is called the poverty line. For
many poor people, living below the poverty line means they lack access to food, water, shelter,
education and healthcare. The income of poor people varies by country and region but is
invariably less than what is necessary to make ends meet.
In order to compare poverty levels worldwide, the World Bank defines extreme poverty as living
on less than $1 a day, and moderate poverty as less than $2 a day.
In 2001, the World Bank estimated that 1.2 billion people lived on less that $1 a day and 2.7
billion people lived on less than $2 a day. This means that roughly half of the 6 billion people on
this planet are poor.4

Poverty Causes and Effects

The causes of poverty are complex and controversial and much has been written to explain its
existence. Geography, ineffective government institutions, poor economic policies, a lack of
investment in human capital and infrastructure, the absence of democracy and markets,
government regulation and political unrest have been cited as possible causes.
The effects of poverty are wide ranging and can perhaps be best illustrated by the following
statistics:

More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day; 300 million are children. Of
these 300 million children, more than 90 percent suffer long-term malnourishment and
micronutrient deficiency

More than 2.6 billion people- over 40 percent of the worlds population- do not have
basic sanitation, and more than one billion people still use unsafe sources of drinking
water

Each year, approximately 300 to 500 million people are infected with malaria.
Approximately 3 million people die as a result

Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their
names4

Fighting Poverty

Dr. Muhammad Yunus, considered the father of the modern microfinance movement,
emphatically believes that poverty is unnecessary and its eradication a matter of will. He is
convinced that a world that abolished slavery and apartheid and eliminated small pox could
definitely end poverty.
World leaders and economists agree. "Extreme poverty can be ended, not in the time of our
grandchildren, but our time," says Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, author of The End of Poverty. Dr. Sachs
chaired the advisory committee to the Millennium Project that was commissioned "to develop a
concrete action plan for the world to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and to reverse
the grinding poverty, hunger and disease affecting billions of people." The first Millennium
Development Goal adopted was to "Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty."
The United Nations 2005 World Summit that reviewed the progress of the Millennium Project,
recognized the role microfinance could play in meeting the millennium development goal to
eradicate poverty.
MicroPlace was created to enable investments in microfinance. Our mission is to help alleviate
global poverty by enabling everyday people to make investments in the worlds working poor.
Invest today and join the fight to end poverty.
A Day in the Life of Saroja
Meet Saroja. She is forty-two years old and a resident of Chennai, India. She and her family rent
a small room on a side street off Greenways road, a busy thoroughfare in the city. Follow her
through a day in her life for a unique perspective on the life of the working poor.
5:40 am
The strident horn of the water truck rattling down the street jolts Saroja awake from a fitful sleep.
She fights the urge to ignore its summons. Five additional minutes in bed, and she and her family
will not have water to drink or cook that day. Forcing herself to get up, she picks up the
aluminum water pots and stumbles out of the house. There is already a queue of people waiting
in front of the yellow and green truck, elbowing and jostling each other to make sure they get
their share of water. She manages to fill both her pots today. Cradling one on her hip and
carefully balancing the other on her head she walks slowly back home.
6:15 am
Saroja makes breakfast on a small kerosene stove. She carefully ladles the watery gruel into two
tin plates. Her husband sprawls in a corner, snoring loudly, fast asleep. Her daughter, Prabha asks
to borrow Sarojas slippers. Prabhas old pair are falling apart. She is afraid her employers at the
garment factory will not approve if she comes to work in bare feet. Sarojas younger son Suresh
comes in from outside. He is in his school uniform. He gulps down his breakfast and wipes his
mouth on his shirt sleeve. On his way out he reminds his mother that it is the last day for him to
buy his school books. Prabha slips into her mothers well worn sandals and silently follows him
out.

7:10 am
The coals in the iron burn brightly as Saroja fans them with a piece of cardboard. When he is
sober, her husband manages a small business pressing peoples clothes. But he has been out
drinking every night for the past three days and has not been awake enough to work. Clothes
from last weeks orders are still stacked in one corner. Saroja knows that she will have to press
and deliver them herself today, or her customers will stop giving her work. After three hot and
sweaty hours, the clothes are pressed and folded. She sorts them into bundles, ties them with
newspaper and string and loads them onto the family cart. To run their clothing business, they
purchased the cart and the iron last year using a loan from the local moneylender. Far bigger than
Saroja, the cart is difficult to push, but she manages to maneuver it through the street. She hopes
her customers will not be too upset that she is late with their orders. She will have to lie again
about her husband being ill and unable to work.
12:00 Noon
She is done with her clothing deliveries. It has been a good day. Most of her customers have
given her more clothes to press and she has earned 400 Rupees (about $9). Saroja tries to
calculate how much she will have once she has paid the rent and purchased her rice and lentils
for the week. She may have money left over to buy Sureshs school books but not enough to get
Prabha new slippers. She worries about Prabha, almost twenty. Who would marry her if they did
not have money for dowry? They would have to take out another loan. She passes by her sons
school and decides to give him money for his books. She has to spend the money when she has
it. She plans to go to the grocery shop to get her weekly ration of rice and lentils after she has
dropped of her cart. As she turns into her street, her heart sinks. She has forgotten that it is the
first of the month. Her landlord and his ruffians are standing at the far corner of the street. They
are on their monthly collection spree. They see her pushing the cart and move forward
threateningly. Silently she hands over the remains of what she earned that morning. It would be
futile to resist. Besides, she is three months behind on her rent payments. So much for her
weekly rations and her daughters slippers. But she is glad that her son will get his school books.
2:00 pm
Saroja arrives at her job at Mrs. Subramaniams house and is greeted with expletives for being
late. She makes her way to the pantry where there is a mound of vessels to be washed. The
family is eating lunch and the smells from the kitchen are tantalizing. She has not eaten all day.
She will have to wait till they have finished eating before she can satisfy her hunger. But they are
soon done and she sits down with the other maid servant to her first meal of the day. She always
looks forward to Thursdays when she comes to Mrs. Subramaniams house to assist in the
housework because of this one meal. There is rice and stew and vegetables and yogurt. There
will even be some left to take home to her family. She spends the afternoon scrubbing floors,
washing dishes, doing the laundry and polishing the brass trinkets that dot the house. Mrs.
Subramaniam is hosting a party that evening and needs Saroja to stay and help with the cooking.
Saroja peels and chops onions, grates coconut, shells peas and makes the flatbread that will be
served for dinner. It is almost seven o clock by the time all the work is done. Mrs. Subramaniam
pays her 200 Rupees (about $5) for helping out..

7:30 pm
Saroja catches the 42 bus home. The fare is two rupees. It is a luxury she does not usually
indulge in but she is exhausted after a long day. And it is not over yet. She still needs to stop at
the grocery store to pick up food, coal and kerosene and then prepare the evening meal for her
family.
8:25 pm
Saroja and her family eat their evening meal. Suresh is memorizing math tables from his text
book while he eats. She has high hopes for her son. Perhaps one day he will get a steady job and
his income could help support the family. She hopes that he wont develop his fathers
predilection for alcohol. She looks across towards her husband. He is moody and sullen. He
truculently asks her how much money she has earned. She does not answer. She knows what is
coming. He will demand the money, asserting his right as her husband to have it. They will
argue. He will yell and scream. It could come to blows. She is too tired to fight today. She gives
him what she has left over. He takes it and leaves.
9:35 pm
Saroja walks down to the community restroom. It is dark and the night is warm. She splashes
water on her hands and face and wipes them with the edge of her sari. She pops some bettlenut
into her mouth as she makes her way back home. Her children are already asleep. She lights a
mosquito coil in the vain hope that it will keep the insects away. She shakes out the straw mat
and lies down on it using a bundle of clothes as a pillow. She pulls the string that turns off the
single bulb that hangs from the ceiling.
Saroja falls asleep as soon as her head touches her makeshift pillow. She will sleep until the
strident horn of the water truck jolts her awake at 5:40 am the next day.
This perspective is based on a true account of Sarojas life as told to Ashwini Narayanan,
General Manager of MicroPlace. Names and locations have been changed