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Faces of SKImfi: Prudence K.
When Prudence and her SKImfi group members gather for business meetings, they begin each session with a chant: “High high, it lifts you high. SKImfi lifts you UP!” Prudence K., a 30-year-old mother of three, launched an electrical supplies business after attending a Selection, Planning and Management workshop with SKImfi Zimbabwe. She accessed a $100…
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A Conversation with Shyam: State of the Foundation
2014 marks the beginning of SKI Charities’ fourth year of activity. In this podcast, the charity’s founder, Shyam K. Iyer, reflects upon the past year and articulates his goals for the coming year. Listen in to hear our Re-Cap of 2013 and Preview of 2014!
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Less is More: The Benefits of Microfinance
For SKI Charities, keeping things at a micro level is essential to the organization’s success. Charity founder, Shyam K. Iyer asserts, “When you’re doing microfinance at such a local level, it’s not just about these women creating their own wealth and creating their own businesses. What about the spillover effects?” Shyam notes that SKImfi beneficiaries…
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A Word with our SKImfi Zimbabwe Field Officer
Our field officer for SKImfi-Zimbabwe discusses his work with SKI Charities and the path that led him to develop a passion for woman and child development. What is your role in SKI Charities? My role is to identify prospective loan beneficiaries, those who are struggling to make ends meet and need a boost to increase…
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Happy 3rd Birthday SKIC! – Zimbabwe Photo Journal
In October of 2010, Shyam K. Iyer began SKI Charities. Two countries, three projects, and hundreds of beneficiaries later, the organization is now celebrating it’s 3rd birthday. And we are just getting started. To celebrate the occasion we commissioned a photojournal of our very first project, the SKImfi Microfinance Institute in Mutare, Zimbabwe. To view…
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Why Focus on Women?
SKI Charities founder Shyam has been asked why it is that the charity focuses exclusively on women. When he visits town halls and communities to tell them about SKIC, plenty of men attend. Some of them jokingly (and others more aggressively) ask him, “Why are we not included? Why do you just focus on women?…
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Why Choose Microfinance?
Founder Shyam K. Iyer discusses the basics of SKIC’s SKImfi program. “The term ‘micro,’ at least to me, connotes community-mindedness. The business efforts of the women we work with aren’t global. They focus on very small economies, on their individual communities, and, if nothing else, SKI Charities is a community-minded organization. We believe that focusing…
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A Conversation with Shyam: The Election in Zimbabwe
In the latest “Conversation with Shyam,” we sat down with the SKI Charities founder to talk about the presidential elections that were recently held in Zimbabwe. Candidates Robert Mugabe (Prime Minister from 1980-87 and President from 1987-Present) and Morgan Tsvangirai (Prime Minister from 2009-Present) currently share power in Zimbabwe’s presidential republic. The election for presidency resulted…
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A Conversation with Shyam: Back from Zimbabwe
After his most recent trip to Zimbabwe, SKI Charities founder Shyam was nothing short of inspired. Here, he recounts the stories of SKImfi participants who have invigorated their communities not just with new businesses but with hope. The spillover effect is definitely at play here, with just one woman inspiring everyone from her family, to…
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What’s in a Name?
SKIpgo Little girls skipped along the side of a dust road as an African sunrise peeked above the horizon, never knowing that the lasting image they created inspired the name of a scholarship program. It was 4:30 in the morning, and Shyam was driving with colleagues through the bush—rural areas—of Zimbabwe. They passed countless children who walked…