We made it to Mali!

As many of you know, Melanie and I love the idea of micro finance. We target specific countries that produce the gemstones that we sell because often miners are getting a disproportionately small share of the end price. Since we buy from the wholesale market and sell to the consumer, who better than us to give something back to those folks? Here is a picture of our latest loan recipients who hail from the West African country of Mali- home to, of course, Mali garnet!

Apparently this group of women makes crafts to sell. I can’t read French so I don’t know for sure, but just being from Mali is good enough for us. We have loaned money to people in Pakistan, Tanzania, Kenya, and finally we have made our way around to Mali. If you have not clicked on the Kiva.org badge in my sidebar, please do that today and give them a try. If you would like, you can throw your hat in the ring for these women from Mali. They still need additional cash before their loan is totally funded and the money is distributed to them. Please join us on this quest!

In the coming holiday season we will make another loan to a gemstone-bearing country and we would be thrilled to have some of our readers follow. If you enjoy the gemstones that are coming to you from these places what could be a better way to give something back than by helping an entrepreneur earn their way to financial independence?