SKI Charities

Tag: SKImfi

  • Catching Up With the SKIC Women of Chile

    SKIC’s work in Chile has grown in exciting ways this year. Our newest site, just four months old, has added to the work of two other thriving sites that now span many miles across the country. As of August, there were 33 active women participating in our Chilean sites of Lebu (founded in 2013), Los…

  • Women Responding to Disaster

    Women Responding to Disaster

    This year, disasters such as the ebola outbreak, the earthquake in Nepal, and the humanitarian crisis in Syria have torn apart communities across our globe. Throughout each of these tragedies, we have heard over and over again how disaster relief efforts must be better suited to impact the unique needs of women, who are too…

  • “It’s About Trade, Not Aid”

    How Micro-Finance Help to Stimulate Communities at Large “Any time I’ve been given something – just given something – I’ve never treated it very dearly or very importantly,” SKIC founder, Shyam, says. “But when I have worked for something and reaped the reward, I feel satisfied, accomplished, and inspired.” A similar pattern follows with SKIC…

  • Empowering Transformational Female Leaders

    In a previous post, “Why Focus on Women?,” we discuss the importance of SKI Charities’ focus on empowering female entrepreneurs and providing education for young women. In the traditional communities of developing countries like Zimbabwe and Chile, where SKIC works, already-marginalized women are often made powerless by circumstances of conflict and unrest, with men historically and culturally standing as the heads of…

  • A Conversation with Shyam: How we Maximize our Impact

    In our latest “Conversation with Shyam,” the charity’s founder speaks about how we are able to maximize our impact as an organization. Despite being a small, privately-funded organization, SKIC operates in places where the demand for micro-finance loans are high, but the supply is not there. In both Zimbabwe and Lebu, the interest-level in participating…

  • Faces of SKImfi: Prudence K.

    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…

  • A Conversation with Shyam: The Election in Chile

    A run-off election this upcoming Sunday, December 15th, will determine Chile’s next president. SKI Charities founder, Shyam K. Iyer, sits down to talk with us about the political climate in Chile, and how it affects SKIC beneficiaries in Lebu.

  • 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…

  • 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…