Sokphun Auk

Sokphun Auk
Status: Raised
$300.00 Loan Request
$300.00 Raised
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=26405

About the Entrepreneur Name: Sokphun Auk
Business Name: Sokphun Auk's Silk Production
Location: Khsach Kandal district, Cambodia
Primary Activity: Weaving
Loan Requested: $300.00
Repayment Term: 12 months - repaid monthly
Loan Use: To purchase thread and other weaving materials
Date Posted: Dec 5, 2007
Date Funded: Dec 5, 2007

Mrs. Sokphun Auk (age 24) married in 2002 and has two children (see photo). She and her family live in a small village across the Mekong River about fifteen kilometers north of Phnom Penh. She is requesting this, her second loan with Maxima, to buy materials for weaving.
Sokphun learned to weave when she was a teenager over the course of a year in which she traveled to a nearby island in the Mekong. It’s not uncommon in this area for young people to apprentice with experienced weavers. Initially they weave the simplest designs and, as their skills improve, their output is exchanged as fees for instruction. Sokphum has since passed along the craft to a younger sister.

In addition to weaving, Sokphun and her husband also farm rice to feed the family. He also does construction work in the area. She explained that the loan will help her by allowing her to buy weaving materials for cash rather than by barter with a middleperson. If she works with a middleperson, she trades two of every three finished pieces just to pay for the weaving thread. She, in turn, gets the sales price from a single piece. If she pays cash for the thread, the cost is cheaper. If she sells for cash, she can increase her profit by as much as 10% or more per piece. Sokphum smilingly expressed confidence that she could easily repay her loan because, with the quality of her weaving, she can sell all she makes.