Update on Thou Suk

Update on Thou Suk
Entrepreneur: Thou Suk
Location: Muk Kampoul district, Cambodia
Amount Repaid: $17.00 of $200.00
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=18265

This entrepreneur is funded by a Kiva loan administered by Maxima Mikroheranhvatho Co., Ltd. here in Cambodia. This is her fourth loan with Maxima. Thou lives on an island in the Mekong River north of Phnom Penh. Her loan was disbursed in September of 2007 and is being paid off on schedule. With the funds from the loan she used $130 to buy silk for weaving. She used the balance to buy local crafts to sell to foreign tourists who sometimes visit the island.

Two of her daughters weave with her. Her husband also does construction on the island. Their combined work supports eight people. Thou is sixty-two and has seven children ranging in age from fourteen to twenty-nine. One studies at a university in Phnom Penh and two are still in high school.

It takes Thou about two days to complete one finished piece of woven cloth. She sells this to a middleman for about $8 (US). The fixed costs per piece average between $5 and $6. She says she can finish about ten pieces per month.

Before receiving any loans, all profits went back into buying weaving supplies and preparing and maintaining the looms. She now has been able to keep her children in school. Her husband has also just completed a small, finished space (see photo) under their raised house where she plans to sell weavings and other crafts from the island to foreign visitors. Occasionally, foreign tourists come to the island and she can sell a piece for much more, sometime as much as double what she gets from selling to a middleman. They are also working on finishing a patio area adjacent to the retail space where she will sell soft drinks, tea and coffee to visitors.

Posted by Darin Greyerbiehl from Muk Kampoul district, Cambodia
Nov 1, 2007