Saturday, May 28 2011

Presentation By Dong Thap University Student

On our last day in Vietnam we met the students and professors of Dong Thap University, who for the last year have been involved with a microcredit project that Rider University started to help the poor population of Vietnam.  At the direction of Rider University, the students lent one hundred dollars out of a fund of $10,000 to people in three Dong Thap villages who wanted to start their own business.  An association is formed that has a leader and that leader decides who could be a credible borrower for this project.  Money is loaned at two percent interest for a period of ten months.  Students monitor the performance of the loan during the lending period and are responsible for collecting the principal plus interest and personal savings at the end of the term from the borrowers.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear how well the program worked during the first lending term.  The students loaned one hundred dollars to thirty-six borrowers and at the end of the term thirty-three borrowers returned the loan with interest back to the fund.  Students shared three case studies with us and we gave them suggestions on how they can help the borrowers to improve their profitability.   

Lunch with Dong Thap University Professor

At night we hosted a dinner in honor of these students at a local Vietnamese restaurant where we exchanged more cultural information and also celebrated Mahesh Shama’s birthday.