Meet ECLOF Clients

The Chicken And The Egg

What came first ? ….. the loan!

Michael Chega, poultry and pig farmer in Katanga, Kenya, solves the conundrum of the chicken and egg - what came first was the loan.

He produces 800 broilers chickens a month and 30 pigs in 6 months. Sales are mainly to restaurants in the area. And it all began with loans.

His current loan is 95,000 Kenyan Shillings (US$1300), and he has had four previous loans  gradually building up his business.

“I’ve had experience with banks in the past” he says “but ECLOF is very different, the group system is different. It is faster, the interest is easy to calculate and that’s not so with the banks. The cost of the loan is lower with ECLOF, banks have hidden charges”.

“ECLOF is friendly, if you get in trouble they’ll help you out, not take your collateral. A major advantage is the group guarantee instead of a collateral.”

“For small-scale farming ECLOF is perfect. When we go to the banks they are friendly when they are giving you the money, but then they want

everything you’ve got”.

“My wife has set up a dressmaking business with the boost in business from the ECLOF loans. We have improved our house, we can watch films and live like anyone in Nairobi. The kids go to a good school. I am not rich but we are comfort­able now”.

Mr Chega is hatching a plan to acquire 1,000 egg-laying hens in the near future with another ECLOF loan. He also wants to add value to his production with packaging.

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