Shared Interest News

Oct 2009

Shared Interest In Focus: Banking on Recovery, Fall 2009

Fall 2009 Newsletter

Sep 2009

Join Us on October 4 in Pittsburgh for conversation with Father Michael Lapsley

Shared Interest is delighted to invite you to our upcoming
reception hosted by Board Member, Rev. Harold Lewis, featuring Father Michael Lapsley, founder of the Institute for Healing of Memories.

This event will take place on Sunday, October 4 at Calvary Episcopal Church, in Pittsburgh.

The Institute for the Healing of Memories is a Cape Town based nonprofit organization that supports and facilitates the spiritual and emotional reconciliation of South Africa’s citizens, and other trauma victims around the world. Through the institute’s weekend retreats, black and white South Africans join in transformative workshops, facilitated by Father Lapsley, that use art, dialogue and role play to help participants heal the psychological and interpersonal wounds inflicted during the apartheid era.

In conversation with Donna Katzin, Shared Interest’s Executive Director, the evening will explore South Africa’s path towards spiritual, emotional and economic reconciliation. We hope you can join us as we explore and celebrate South Africa, and learn from its continuing journey towards transformation and justice.

At the event, we will welcome suggested donations of $50 or more in support of Shared Interest and The Institute for Healing of Memories. We hope you will be able to join us.

Where:
Calvary Episcopal Church
315 Shady Avenue (on the corner of Walnut St.)
Pittsburgh, PA 15206

When:
Sunday, October 4, 2009 at 5 PM.

RSVP to:
Alicia Kingue (by September 28)
Director of External Relations
646-442-0186
alicia@sharedinterest.org

The Institute for Healing of Memories (IHOM) facilitates Healing of Memories workshops in response to the emotional, psychological and spiritual wounds that are inflicted on nations, communities and individuals by wars, repressive regimes, human rights abuses and other traumatic events or circumstances.

Jul 2009

Shared Interest on Microplace

Press Release: For Nelson Mandela’s 91st Birthday on July 18, 2009 Shared Interest announces new investments with Microplace to help South Africa’s poorest help themselves

New York, NY July 15, 2009. To join in the worldwide celebration of Nelson Mandela’s 91st birthday on July 18, 2009, Shared Interest, the leading U.S. nonprofit social investment fund facilitating credit and technical assistance to black South Africans, announced the launch of new microfinance investments on MicroPlace (www.microplace.com ), a website that enables everyday people to invest in the world’s working poor. Shared Interest has been inspired by Mandela’s tireless dedication to his country and his people, as well as by his recognition of the organization’s efforts over many years. In one message, Mandela told them, “Your contribution toward making available credit, creating jobs, encouraging small business and providing affordable homes and viable communities for economically disenfranchised South Africans will be particularly remembered. Your unflagging partnership – as necessary now as it was in 1994 – has helped us develop new strategies and tools to give substance and shape to the vision and energies of our people. We look forward to continuing that work which is based on a shared interest.”

Shared Interest is pledged to growing that work. When the organization launched its guarantee fund after the fall of apartheid in 1994, the smallest loan the organization was able to take from individuals or institutions was $10,000. Over time, it lowered that threshold to $3,000. Today with the launch of its collaboration with MicroPlace, an online investment marketplace that enables everyday people to invest in the world’s working poor, the minimum investment to enable a microloan has now dropped to $20.

“Shared Interest is pleased to be working with MicroPlace to supply impoverished South Africans with financial tools to build a new society – and to provide people of all incomes in the U.S. with the opportunity to be part of that transformation,” stated Donna Katzin, Shared Interest’s Executive Director. “The movement to end apartheid was constructed by thousands of ‘ordinary’ people in South Africa and around the world. Our presence on MicroPlace.com will enable many such women and men to join in the next phase of building a just nation where human rights include the right to economic development and freedom from unemployment and poverty.”

Many realize that Mandela’s fight for economic and social justice for all South Africans continues, and that Shared Interest is at the forefront of that movement.

“By listing Shared Interest on our site, we are doing our part to channel funds to entrepreneurs on the front lines of the campaign to end poverty in South Africa and the surrounding region,” affirmed Ashwini Narayanan, general manager of MicroPlace. “Shared Interest’s 15-year track record provides a solid base for this important work.”

Since 1994 Shared Interest has assisted more than 1.8 million black South Africans living in rural and township communities. With its listing on MicroPlace, Shared Interest can accept investments of less than the cost of a dinner out to support meaningful and impactful poverty alleviation projects such as the Siboshwa cooperative.

The Siboshwa Cooperative is an agricultural project located in the remote eastern corner of Mpumalanga Province, close to the Mozambican border. More than 50 years ago, apartheid authorities rounded up residents of the community in trucks – without notice, shot their cattle, allowed them to take only what they could carry in their arms - and dumped them on inhospitable land. Today, the Siboshwa community has organized an agricultural cooperative on that land and, with the help of a Shared Interest guarantee, is raising commercial sugar cane for the first time.

About Shared Interest
To date, Shared Interest’s $12.4 million dollar guarantee fund has leveraged credit of more than $100 million to struggling communities throughout South Africa. In its 15 year history, it has benefitted over 1.8 million South Africans, built 75,000 homes and created and strengthened 586,000 businesses.

About MicroPlace
MicroPlace (www.microplace.com ), launched in 2007, is a website that enables everyday people to invest in the world’s working poor. As an online investment marketplace whose mission it is to alleviate global poverty, MicroPlace is paving the way to enable a billion people to lift themselves out of poverty. MicroPlace is a wholly-owned subsidiary of eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Alicia Kingue 646. 442.0186
alicia@sharedinterest.org
www.sharedinterest.org

Jun 2009

Youth Day - South Africa, June 16, 2009

Shared Interest 2008 Annual Report

This year, South Africa celebrates Youth Day, June 16, with new challenges, but also new optimism. As I write, the global financial crisis is taking its toll on young people’s job opportunities – and also their dreams. Families across the country struggle to feed, shelter and educate their children, and provide opportunities for them to thrive in a more equitable society.
The beneficiaries of Shared Interest’s guarantees – who now number more than 1.800,000 black South Africans — are also on the front lines. Across the country, they are grappling with food prices that soared last year. Construction costs, which climbed with the price of fuel, have not declined significantly. With rising unemployment, more youth are looking for jobs to contribute to their families’ income, and have to look harder. Banks are increasingly reluctant to lend, and require more encouragement and enhancements than they did the year before.
In this climate, Shared Interest and Thembani are working flat out – with no increase in staff – to unlock credit for small businesses, new homes and viable rural communities. We continue to streamline our operations and collaborate with other organizations to supply South African microfinance institutions, cooperatives and community enterprises with access to capital and technical assistance.
The hard-won results speak for themselves. On the front cover of our 2008 Annual Report, you will see a story that will not make the front page of tomorrow’s newspapers: Two former school principals, Phildah Modjadji and Salome Mondlane, display the Female Farmer of the Year award. They won the honor for their leadership of the fruit and vegetable growing and dehydration project, Diretsogetse, whose name was chosen by their former pupils — the community’s youth. It means “opportunities have come up for us.”
We invite you to celebrate the victories you have helped us win during 2008.
This year more than ever, we look forward to your continuing partnership and support. As Nelson Mandela reminds us:

Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is people who have made poverty and tolerated poverty, and it is people who will overcome it.

Donna Katzin

Executive Director

Shared Interest 2008 Annual Report

Apr 2009

Shared Interest InFocus Spring 2009 Newsletter

Shared Interest Infocus Spring 2009 Newsletter

Mar 2009

PRESS RELEASE: INTERNATIONAL ADVOCATE GRACA MACHEL TO BE HONORED FOR DEFENDING RIGHTS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA’S CHILDREN AND WOMEN

WHAT: Shared Interest, a leading New York-based non-profit social investment fund, will honor Her Excellency Graça Machel, Founder and President of the Foundation for Community Development for Mozambique and Former First Lady of Mozambique and South Africa, at its 15th annual awards gala on March 30 in New York City. H.E. Graça Machel will be honored for her courageous defense of the rights of Southern Africa’s women and children. A passionate social and political activist, Machel has worked for decades to strengthen communities and facilitate social and economic justice and development in southern Africa.

The awards dinner will also honor Dr. Price Cobbs, a world-renowned author, psychiatrist and President of Pacific Management Systems, a management consulting company. Dr. Cobbs, a member of the Shared Interest Board of Directors, will be recognized for his lifelong commitment to racial and economic justice in South Africa and the United States.
Johnson & Johnson Co. will receive the Corporate Award for the company’s significant efforts to build a new South Africa through its high ethical and philanthropic standards and support for the country’s emerging microentrepreneurs.
Distinguished U.S. and African leaders and top diplomats will gather for the annual event that recognizes leaders for their commitment and ongoing work towards economic democracy and development in the new South Africa. Shared Interest’s mission is to mobilize the resources for South Africa’s economically disenfranchised communities to sustain themselves and build an equitable nation. Since Shared Interest began in 1994, its loan guarantees and technical support have benefited more than 1.5 million black South Africans – the majority of them women.
The evening performance will feature recording artist Nathi Gcabashe and the South African All Star Band. Michelle Miller, CBS News correspondent, will serve as the gala emcee. This year’s major corporate sponsors are Johnson & Johnson, MTV Networks, and The Nielsen Company.
WHEN:                 Monday, March 30, 2009 - 6:00 PM - Cocktail Reception
                              7:00 PM - Awards Dinner

WHERE:               Tavern on the Green, Central Park West, 67th St., New York City

HONOREES:     H.E. Graça Machel, Founder and President of the Foundation for Community Development for Mozambique and Former First Lady of Mozambique and South Africa

Dr. Price Cobbs, world-renowned author and psychiatrist, President of Pacific Management Systems and member of the Shared Interest Board of Directors

Corporate Honoree - Johnson & Johnson

ABOUT SHARED INTEREST: Shared Interest, a leading New York-based non-profit social investment fund, envisions a just and vibrant South African economy that eliminates disparities and upholds the basic human rights enshrined in the constitution - a South African society that serves as a model of economic justice. It conducts its work in South Africa in conjunction with its partner, the Pretoria-based Thembani International Guarantee Fund.

CONTACT: Shanta Bryant Gyan 646. 290.8211; shanta@sbgcommunications.com * www.sharedinterest.org

Feb 2009

Monday, March 30, 2009 Shared Interest 15th Anniversary Awards Dinner

Shared Interest is pleased to announce that H.E. Graça Machel, wife of Nelson Mandela and former First Lady of Mozambique, and Dr. Price Cobbs will be honored at the Awards Dinner for Shared Interest’s 15th Anniversary Gala.

Please click here to print a response form:

Awards Dinner Response Form

MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2009, TAVERN ON THE GREEN, NEW YORK CITY. BUY TICKETS or DONATE online at www.NYCharities.org . For more information contact Alicia Kingue at Tel:646-442-0186 email: alicia@sharedinterest.org.

Oct 2008

Shared Interest: In Focus, Fall 2008 Newsletter

Aug 2008

Shared Interest Update: Celebrating South African Women’s Day. August 9, 2008

Dear Friends,

August 9, 2009 marks the 52nd anniversary of South African Women’s Day. Shared Interest celebrates this occasion by honoring the women who are still on the frontlines of the campaign to support their families, and to build sustainable communities and a more equitable society. They are mothers like Rosina Mabeba, Yvonne Molefe, Salome Mondlane and Phildah Modjadji, who put the loans we guarantee to work. With their unrelenting determination and skill, commitment and courage, they are transforming the lives of their families and playing leadership roles in their communities. Through their micro- and small businesses and community enterprises they are breaking down beariers and setting precedents for women in South Africa and beyond.

Sincerely,

Donna Katzin
Executive Director

Rosina Mabeba

Rosina Mabeba is the treasurer of the Matseke Village Center in Limpopo Province, organized by the Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF) - a position to which she was elected a year ago. Like SEF’s other clients, she borrows and saves as part of a group, through an organization of groups in her village. She believes that one of the reasons she was chosen is her experience handling money in the small spaza (convience) shop that she operates, thanks to loans from SEF over a four year period.

Beginning with a R500 (US$66) loan, she graduated up the loan ladder to her most recent loan of R2,600 (US$3,466). In the shop she works hard from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. selling candy, boiled eggs, biscuits, fish for barbequing and traditional beer. To price her goods she investigates the costs of the wholesale products, evaluates her own costs and studies what her competitors charge.

“Before I took the loan I was struggling for food, bread and school fees,” recalls Rosina. Her situation was particularly challenging, as she has 10 children, ranging in age from six to 26 (including three sets of twins, all of whom are still in elementary school). Rosina’s business has been quite successful, enabling her to maintain her family. She is hopeful that in five years her shop will continue to grow, with SEF’s help, and enable her to insure that all her children receive the food, clothing and education for which she is working so hard.

Yvonne Molefe

“I felt I could make more of a contribution than I was making,” explains Yvonne Molefe, Managing Director of Misty Sea, one of South Africa’s first black-owned commercial pig-raising businesses, not far from Johannesburg. Yvonne and her husband purchased an old previously white-owned farm in 1998. ”The first day on the farm I said ‘where do I start? Agriculture was far away from my life. I was from the township. I had to read about different approaches, and bought a book on pig management. I mobilized my family, who helped on weekends.”

Yvonne began with ten sows and one boar. Today she has 270 sows and 35 boars, and is in the process of acquiring 30 more sows.   As a black woman in the commercial pig industry, she has encountered obstacles. “People don’t expect to see you - a female - where you are,” she comments. “It is still quite a shock.”

She has experienced harassment by local white officials and the Town Council. In 2006, when a storm caused the roof of one of the sheds to fall, killing many of the pigs below, the insurance company refused to pay the claim. Yvonne had no choice but to make repairs herself, and used the prize money she had been awarded in 2004 as Top Producer for National Markets to feed her pigs and rebuild the business.   Her second Shared Interest-guaranteed loan enabled her to restructure the project.

Despite the fact that Yvonne still struggles, she has won the respect of neighboring white farmers. Today Yvonne is still the only black member of the South Africa Pig Producing Organization, which now sends emerging farmers to her for inspiration and informal mentoring. This has given her the idea of developing a training school on her land for emerging pig farmers. She has already prepared several training manuals.

“There are four things I would tell an emerging farmer,” she concludes. “You have to do research and visit other pig farmers. You also have to know that this business is capital intensive. Also it’s an industry governed by standards - there have to be measures of bio-safety. Most of all I would ask, ‘Is it only for making money?’ If you only do it for the money, it won’t work. You have to put your heart into it.”

Salome Mondlane and Phildah Modjadji

“We women wanted to be the ones to do this thing,” explains Salome Mondlane, 72 year-old member of the Diretsogetse Pankop Board of Directors. Born in the small town of Pankop, Mpumalanga, at that time part of the apartheid-designated homeland of Bophutatswana, Mrs. Mondlane succeeded Phildah Modjadji, mother of eight, as principal of the local elementary school.  They are two active leaders of the fruit and vegetable production and dehydration project organized by the Pankop Women Farmers’ Forum in collaboration with tribal and municipal authorities.

Mrs. Mondlane and Mrs. Modjadji worked with 300 women in the community to grow fruit to supplement their incomes and the diets of their children, and pay for school fees and electricity. They organized the Pankop Women Farmers Forum in collaboration with the tribal chiefs and the councilors and executive of the Dr. JS Moroka Municipality.   Then they sought to create jobs for the community’s youth.

“We say in our language, ‘the mother handles the knife by the blade, not the handle,’” notes Mrs. Modjadji. “We know each other, and who can stand up for each other. The women of our community began with the objective of helping their youth by alleviating poverty and creating job opportunities for our children.”

In 2003, the community devised a plan and secured loans with the help of Shared Interest guarantees and Thembani’s technical assistance. They converted a former girls’ dorm into a fruit and vegetable dehydration plant, set up a hydroponic community growing area to expand production, and finally helped neighboring farmers increase their supply of produce for the project.

“Although we are still struggling, we are not waiting. We are moving on,” affirms Mrs. Modjadji. “We want this to be the star project of South Africa. We mean business.”

Jun 2008

Shared Interest Update: Honor South Africa’s Youth

June 16, 2008
Dear Friends:

Thirty-two years ago today, high school students in Soweto marched peacefully to protest the order to educate them in Afrikaans – a language they did not know. One they perceived to be the language of the “oppressor.” Before they arrived at their destination, South African police opened fire, killing unarmed youngsters. As the death toll soared to more than 600, images of the massacre ricocheted around the world, galvanizing the international community, and changing the face of the country’s freedom struggle forever.
We dedicate this 2007 Annual Report to those children – and also to today’s families struggling to feed their children at a time of rising food prices, to create jobs for them as nearly half job-seeking youth remain unemployed, and to launch a new generation of young black entrepreneurs, working hard to enter industries and access credit previously reserved for whites.
Expectations and stakes are high. South Africa’s future and that of its neighbors — including the political and economic refugees living within its borders — depend on the country’s ability to deliver for this generation. Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economy must “get it right” in order to make a reality of the hopes for which Soweto’s children marched, and to help galvanize the peaceful and equitable development of the region and the continent.
Shared Interest has benefited more than one million low-income black South Africans. Your generosity counts. Please join us by forwading your financial support to reach the next million South Africans.

Sincerely,

Donna Katzin
Executive Director

2007 Annual Report : on the cover of the report is Nosimphiwe Tafeni makes Xhosa dolls from recylced bottles in Khayelitsha as part of the Masiphihlisane group, which received a loan from Shared Interest beneficiary Kuyasa.

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