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What does TecAp offer to women microfranchisees?

-A business that is easily replicable by low income microfranchisees with little formal education
-A tested business that meets a market demand at prices her neighbors are willing to pay
-Guaranteed income margin to the microfranchisees so they can help their children with needed expenses like school fees, food, clothing, etc.
-Assists the women to become credit worthy with a microfinance institution so she can later borrow for other purposes.
-Her own territory in which she sell. This keeps her from having to compete against neighbors with the same products.

-Rapid access to the products that she needs that are sent to her by the TecAp support team

– Collegiate relations with other microfranchisees who help each other learn.

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Solar energy is proven to greatly assist rural women and their families

High quality coffee is grown in the mountains, often far away from the national electrical grid. One third of all Nicaraguan families do not have access to conventional electricity.

Low income women and their families who have bought solar systems found three major types of benefits. 1) Benefits to the family: Family health improves by replacing kerosene lamps that produce toxic pollution and soot in their house. It allows the family to study at night and makes household tasks and care of the sick easier. New electric appliances, like blenders, save labor and time. 2) It saves the family money each month on batteries, fuel & long trips to charge cell phones. These savings can be used for better nutrition. 3) Solar helps women generate money in their microenterprises. Women who have home-based grocery stores say that neighbors are attracted to their stores at night. Some may come in to watch a show on the new solar-powered TV and end up buying their food there. Solar energy can pump water for the house, animals and to irrigate crops.

This allows women microfranchisees, and youth technicians supported by TecAp, to diversify their sources of income. For the poor, saving money and increasing income create a higher quality of life and provide more choices.

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Nohemi sells solar products

Nohemí Barahona, 49, is one of the first microfranchisees to sell solar powered products in the rural areas of Murra, bordering Honduras. She sells lanterns, cell phone chargers & lamps. Her community was once the scene of fierce fighting by the Contras, the rebel group in the 1980s that fought the Nicaraguan government. Murra is relatively peaceful today, and its inhabitants make their living primarily from farming corn, beans and growing coffee. Barahona grows beans and coffee and also raises farm animals. She is a strong voice and advocate for her community.

Barahona is an activist and one of the first to raise her voice in defense of the rights of women and girls. She helps and mentors women who acquire and raise farm animals through a government support program. She volunteers with the Ministry of Health and also oversees a community pharmacy supplying veterinary medicines.

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IDEAS solves a financial problem so the poor can purchase roof-top systems

One of the biggest obstacles for a low income coffee producer to buy a roof-top solar system is obviously the cost. IDEAS partnership with the coffee cooperatives and fair trade coffee companies has allowed the farmers to obtain longer term financing with payments that are compatible with the coffee growing season. For example, Root Capital agreed to consider the coffee coops’ request for 3 year loans so the coops can drop the payment amount for roof-top solar systems. The first success of this system was 50 systems that were installed in July 2010. Root Capital lent for 3 years to the coop, which in turn has lent for 3 years to its members. TecAp has worked to repeat this with other fair trade coffee coops. IDEAS repeated its success with another international lender by assisting Oikocredit to make its first $100,000 loan to solar energy for farmers in the “Cooperativa 20 de Abril” in Nicaragua.

To assist rural families that are not part of cooperatives, IDEAS began working with microfinance institutions early on in the TecAp microfranchise. In recent years, it has worked intensively with Financiera FDL that has lower interest rates and good terms for low income rural families. The youth micro-technicians, trained by IDEAS, find a potential buyer and collect basic information. FDL then does due diligence on the family and then lends the funds. The family contracts the services of IDEAS that then use the youth to install the system. It is a win-win for all concerned.

Thanks to Julia Manzerova for the photo of rooftop solar panels attached to this post.