I.G.P.s - Successes and Failures and anything else about this subject Cancel Title is required

Many of our LiftOne sponsors have begun I.G.P.s to help their family's monthly income in the hope that it will help them raise out of poverty. We have often read posts about the beginning of such small businesses but I have often wanted to know if they succeeded or failed. So, I am beginning this discussion hoping that sponsor's who have provided I.G.P.'s will post about their own experiences. Or, if they have anything at all to add about I.G.P.'s. This will help newer sponsors and also be a subject of interest for the rest of us.

I will begin with my own three experiences of which 2 were successful and the other one failed.

1) The first one I tried was to send a small amount to provide Lontia, the grandmother of Nsenzeni and little Barbara in Zambia, with a small vending business selling vegetables, mealie meal and dried fish. At that time the monthly income was only $20.00 a month for a large family. At first it did well and their income rose but then customers were lacking. Therefore, I did a fundraiser for a larger amount to fund a second hand clothing business which was all the rage at that time. I advised Lontia to buy one large bale and something like a bicycle to transport her goods for sale. Unfortunately, she used all of the funds on two large bales of used clothing and a table. Evidently, the same thing happened as the previous business - at first it went well and then she told me that people no longer wanted what she had to sell. But, this time she was more sensible and reverted to her former business but offering more items like charcoal and a more varied choice of vegetables. That was several years ago and the business is still doing well and the income has risen to $70.00 a month though a third of that amount has to pay for newly installed electricity.

2) This second IGP was to provide Eloina's mother, Edith, of Guatemala with a business making and selling tortillas. A single mother with two daughters to support Edith's only monthly income of $208.00 was from baby sitting. This dropped dramatically to only $100.00 so an IGP was the only answer. This business immediately saw a rise in income back to the earlier amount of $208.00. and has consistently provided the family with their daily needs except for a blip last year when I learned that the business was no longer in operation. The reason was that Edith had to use her monthly supplies money to buy medicine for a very sick relatives. Fortunately, with the help of some wonderfully generous Lifters the business is now back in operation and doing well.

3) This third IGP was to provide Angela - Miguel's Mum of Mexico with a small business to be run out of their home. Her aim was to sell packages of tortillas, milk and soft drinks to her neighbours who lived far from town high up on a ridge. The funds raised also provided her with a large fridge. Though Angela was very excited at the thought of a better income than a few days a week work as a maid the business did not succeed. Evidently, unknown to her other people had already begun selling similar items and even though she tried her best going from door to door she could not make a go of it. I expect Miguel had a year's supply of soft drinks and at least they now had a large fridge to store the vegies they grew in their garden.

These are just a few examples of the types of businesses that sponsor's have provided for their sponsored families and I know there must be many more. I have heard in the past that one pig business failed because the father sold the newly purchased pigs for drink but I would love to hear more about other successes and failures.

I'm certain that they work. But I'm 0 for 2 on IGPs. Dailin's family sold soft drinks from the home. But the profits never found their way into resupply. Moise's pig farm went down when, unbeknownst to the rest of the family, Moise's stepfather sold the pigs for easy cash.

Since the pig experience, I've decided that to finance the kids' educations is a better investment. But nothing is certain.

it all depends on where ones prioritys are..many a small business has gone under for as many other reasons as you can think of,,follow your heart, you are doing what you can. you gave them the means and oppertunity . your works are good.

Thank you, Barbara, for starting this thread!

I can only contribute a little at the moment because the IGP for Daniel's grandmother in Valparaíso, Chile, is in the initial phase. Last summer we asked if the family would be interested and they were! The grandmother has been sewing for friends and neighbors but has never had her own materials and only a 35 years old sewing machine.

The idea is to make it possible for her to do her own sewing and have a stand in the local market to place the items for sale. She will make curtains, blankets, track suits, bags etc.

First step was to get her a new sewing machine and fabric to start the production and we have now sent the remaining money for an overlock machine and money to pay for the stand at the market. We are still waiting for a report regarding this second step.

We hope, of course, that this cn give an increase in income ($222 a month for grandmother and 4 children), but if it should fail - because of lack of customers or whatever - she will be able to sew and mend her own and her grandchildren's clothes. And it is a "business" she can bring with her, it doesn't require much space or special conditions for storing. So we believe that it will be successful, and the grandmother is very dedicated to the project.

In the first report, the grandmother had said that: "She will work a lot to earn money and give the best to her grandchildren"

I need to check up again on Mercy's (Zambia) mother's food-selling stall. When I last inquired, I was told that the business was doing well and had resulted in profits that were used for more inventory ... yet it seems the family income has decreased since?

Interesting about John's experience - I was told that one of my kids isn't eligible for a IGP because the father is an alcoholic and there was concern he'd sell the goods for booze. I suppose that means there is risk with any nice items the child receives though.

Thanks for the recap here all! Very useful information.

I provided Steven's mother, Lourdes, with 2 IGPs at once last year. CI recommended a small food selling business that required a stove, tables and tent canopy. She also requested supplies to sell fruits and produce. The intention was that she would sell food everyday and be there to sell the produce and be with her children more.

The way it worked out she is selling food on the weekends, Friday through Sunday, and still working at her former cleaning job through the week. Since she is not there as much, the fruit and produce was going bad before it could be sold. However, her income has increased substantially and she found a middle way that worked for her.

In retrospect, I think I should have tried the IGP CI recommended and waited a while to see what the results would be. At any rate, I'm still a big fan of IGPs; I'm glad their income has increased and I hope the business will continue to do well. Keeping my fingers crossed...

Many thanks to all who have responded to this thread. I can already see that there are things to be learned from their replies. I had worried about Miguel's Dad being an alcoholic and even though his wife, was so exited about the thought of giving up both of her small jobs (her only form of income) I advised her just to give up the smaller street cleaning job but to keep the more remunerative maid job until the business began to turn a profit. This is an important lesson to pass on because as in the case of David's IGP to help his sponsored family things don't always turn out as planned. David, is this the IGP where the restaurant had such a wonderful view? I had thought that it would do well because of the great view and the mother's cooking experience. I do hope that your grandmother's IGP will also be a great success Annette and look forward to hearing more in the future. Hoping to hear more stories from other sponsors both good and bad. They will all help other sponsor's to make good choices if they also decide to ask for an IGP for their own families.

My mom did a rather pricey ~ $1600 --IGP for her sponsored child Mirna (funded in part by FirstGiving). The idea was to build a small galley that could be used to raise pigs--5 of them--and also to get the piglets, feed, deworming, etc.

So far it seems to have been a rousing success. Mirna's original family income was $52 or $78/month. But with the sale of two half-grown pigs, they got $140 and not only got 2 more piglets and feed, but also food and clothing for the family (including a very dressy outfit for Mirna). We got another follow-up photo later of them with a new batch of piglets to raise and Mirna with a bigger grin than I had thought possible (before, she tended to look very serious).

Pigs take about 5-6 months to mature to slaughter weight. By selling 2-3 pigs every 2-3 months, I imagine they could make a tidy sum, compared to their prior income. Although the Family Record has not yet been updated to show how much the increase has been (sometimes it is updated only once a year) I look forward to that and suspect it will be quite a jump.

Mirna has also been the main caretaker of the pigs, a fact of which she is very proud.

I have a sponsored child, Eyra, and a group-sponsored child, Paul, who have both had dramatic increases of income following an SNG--which may or may not have been the result of an IGP that the family took on themselves and was thus not reported.

When I first started sponsoring Eyra, her family income was $52/month for her, her mother and brother. Her mother works as a maid. With the first SNG I sent them, they spent part on three pairs of shoes, one, I think, for Mirna's mom, and another part on cleaning supplies.

Not long after that, their income went up to $65/month, a 25% increase.

Paul of Zambia, living with 3 young cousins and 4 adults (but neither parent), had a family income of $10/month when our group started sponsoring him. I don't know how they were surviving.

We sent him SNGs several times a year, partly to send him to school for the first time, and partly for food. Nothing was said about an IGP. However, his family income has increased to $40/month, and then, later, to $70/month!

He has not said anything about them doing an IGP. However, maybe eating well consistently enabled one or more family members to get strong enough to earn more money. That's my best guess.

I should mention that I have a "sort of" failure on an IGP. While I was still raising funds for an IGP for Edy and Katherin's mother, Juana, it became too dangerous for her to start the business outside the home. If I had the funds and had sent them right away, I assume the business would have failed when Juana had to quit working in the market (the market she was working in was the same she wanted to start her own business in).

These are kids who live in the red zones in Guatemala, so IGPs in those areas may be risky with all of the issues currently going on in those zones.

Barbara, yes, it was the restaurant with the nice view!

Updates on the IGP for Daniel’s grandmother in Chile:

Well, we would have loved to share that the IGP for Daniel’s grandmother was progressing with an increase in income as a result. But the fact is that we won’t be able to follow the project closely in the future. Daniel no longer lives with his grandmother because his mother decided to take 3 of the 4 kids back to live with her and her boyfriend. The family income in the new household is the one listed on the family record and will not show any changes caused by the IGP, I believe.

However, Daniel’s youngest sister still lives with the grandmother and hopefully she will benefit directly from the IGP - and we are sure that the grandmother still will do everything she can for her grandchildren.

Even if this was not quite the idea with the project, we are happy that Daniel didn’t move out of the CI area! And I believe that there is a close contact between the grandmother/ mother / Daniel and his siblings - especially with the youngest sister still living with the grandmother.

But unless we can pry some informations out of Daniel, we really can’t tell if it is a success or a failure...

Annette

I also worked out through CI an IGP selling shoes.  The mother was suppose to sell out of her house and at market on weekends.  They were not very active at it and it failed.

@Ditchqueen, Daniel's agency in Chile has closed now. I hope that Daniel will reconnect with Annette somehow and that we will hear more news from him again though. Fingers crossed...