Contributor: Erin Wildermuth

Mention of Haiti often brings forth images of rampant unemployment, desperation and a society of people who are just barely making ends meet. While this is not an incorrect image, it is incomplete.

Giovanna Menard, one of Haiti's unsung "opportunity entrepreneurs." Photo: courtesy of MicroMentor

While many people in Haiti struggle with the bare necessities of life, and hustle simply to keep their families fed and clothed — so-called 'necessity entrepreneurs' — there is also a class of successful professionals known as 'opportunity entrepreneurs' who open businesses to exploit market opportunities, rather than out of desperation. These people speak English, have attained a university degree and maintain a social network of friends and acquaintances that makes job hunting much easier.   
 
Giovanna Menard fits into this category. As a lawyer at a top phone company in Port-au-Prince, Menard is financially secure. This relative comfort doesn’t stop her from finding time to run her own business, Artisans du Soleil.

Read more ▸

On May 13, the Haiti Economic Recovery Team arrived on site in Saint-Marc’s 5eme section to witness our first market fair.

Guerrier Elicienne participates in practice-based mobile money in Saint-Marc's 5eme section. Photo: Erin Wildermuth/Mercy Corps

As we drove up to the football field that had been selected for the event, we were greeted with a crowd of beneficiaries, women selling water and snacks on the sidelines and more than 20 tents evenly spread around the field’s boundaries. Within each tent, a vendor sat proudly behind an assortment of goods in a Mercy Corps shirt embossed with the slogan "Bayo Chwazi" — “let them choose” in Creole.

There were a variety of goods to be chosen from: high stacks of pots, buckets, radios, mattresses and even building materials welcomed the beneficiaries as they completed the registration process and meandered through the fair grounds. An entertainment system blasted messages on cholera prevention and hygiene interlaced with jazzy local tunes, which beneficiaries would occasionally complement with impromptu dance moves.

Read more ▸

Late last month, a number of businessmen, journalists and community organizers gathered in Port-au-Prince to witness the launch of the Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organization (MiCRO). MiCRO is an innovative, donor-capitalized organization built to bring insurance to a class of people who often find themselves outside of the system – the poor.

More specifically, MiCRO links the global reinsurer Swiss Re with local microcredit bank Fonkoze in order to provide insurance to small business owners. This is only the first step — MiCRO hopes to reach more of the uninsured in Haiti by partnering with other organizations in the future.

Catastrophic insurance is especially important in Haiti, an island country that sits on a fault line. Every time an earthquake, hurricane or even a tropical storm hits the country, citizens experience economic losses. This is especially true of small business owners, who lack access to formal financial institutions.

Read more ▸

One of the more inspired advantages that Mercy Corps hopes to bring to vulnerable communities via mobile money is easy access to financial services. A good number of places with high cell phone penetration are many miles from the nearest banking institution. By allowing users to bank on their phones they will have access to these services without ever leaving their homes.

As is the case with any new idea, the practice is never as simple as the theory. In order for families to use their cell phones as an electronic bank they need to feel confident that — if they need cash — there is somewhere they can go to cash-out (trade their mobile money for physical cash). In an ideal mobile money ecosystem, every vendor would be willing and able to support small cash-out needs. Then there would be one vendor or institution given “agent status.” This agent would facilitate the cash-out feature for all the smaller vendors, travelling to a larger city and bank to manage their own cash flow.

Read more ▸

(From left) Blanc Martine Guerda, Benaria Saint Juste, Marie Saint Juste in Guerda's small shop.
Photo: Erin Wildermuth/Mercy Corps

It was the day of the first mobile money disbursement in Saut D’Eau, a small town in Haiti known for its waterfalls and voodoo folklore. Thanks to a grant from USAID/HIFIVE, 100 beneficiaries had been selected to receive their unconditional cash grants via cellular phone. The beneficiaries had been identified, mobilized and trained to use cell phones as a futuristic wallet. Mercy Corps Haiti's Economic Recovery Team knew, however, that true understanding comes when people actually begin to use a new technology.

The first day of mobile money use in Saut D’Eau was chaotic. Nearly a hundred people crowded in front of the two stores where Mercy Corps staffers stood available to help them make their purchases. It was a slow, crowded process. Amidst the chaos, I decided to visit the participating vendors who didn’t have a Mercy Corps presence at their shops. The first two were empty, indicating that recipients felt they needed the extra support that our staff was providing. Then I arrived at Blanc Martine Guerda’s shop and was pleasantly surprised to find Marie Saint Juste and her daughter Benaria shopping with phone in hand.

Read more ▸