Sophin Leuk

Sophin Leuk
Status: Raised
$600.00 Loan Request
$600.00 Raised
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=24604

About the Entrepreneur Name: Sophin Leuk
Business Name: Selling fish
Location: Kean Svay district, Cambodia
Primary Activity: Fish Selling
Loan Requested: $600.00
Repayment Term: 20 months - repaid monthly
Loan Use: To buy a motorbike to transport fish and to buy fish for re-sale in her village.
Date Posted: Nov 20, 2007
Date Funded: Nov 20, 2007

Mrs. Sophin LEUK (age 35) and her husband (age 34) have been married for 10 years. They have 2 children, one boy and one girl. The girl who is the eldest, studies in school in their village. They live in a fertile farming area along the Tonle Bassac (river), a tributary of the Mekong, several kilometers south of Phnom Penh. Her husband drives a multi-person motorbike taxi called a “remorque”, transporting workers to and from the many nearby garment factories. She is requesting this second loan from MAXIMA in the amount of $600. She will use the funds from the loan to purchase a motorbike for transporting fish that she resells in her village. Any remaining money she will use for buying fish for re-sale.
She has been buying and reselling fish since 1997. Fish is, by far, the most common source of protein in Cambodia. Sophin says she typically sells about three kilograms per day. Over the course of the year, she says she sells perhaps 7 or 8 different kinds, depending which type is in season. Depending on the kind of fish, the sales price ranges from 5,000-12,000 Riel (US $1.25-$3.00) per kilogram and she nets about 50% profit. Sophin usually goes to a nearby village on the edge of a large lake to purchase her fish. In the event she can’t buy what she needs there, she travels to the larger district market to buy. She then returns to re-resell her inventory at the small market that springs up along the road in her village. In the event she can’t sell everything she buys, she goes door-to-door in her village to move the remaining stock.

Sophin’s long-term hopes are to keep growing her business. She explained that the loan will allow her to travel to and from where she buys fish much more easily. She also hopes that she’ll be able to save more money to improve her family’s life.