35,000 have taken RM324m loans: YUM
Published on: Friday, September 23, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: Yayasan Usaha Maju (YUM), a micro-credit institution, has chalked up a record of more than 35,000 participants with a loan value of RM324 million and a repayment rate exceeding 98pc.Director of YUM, Freddy Rantau disclosed this success story at the Luncheon Talk with women NGOs on Glass Ceiling, Glass Wall – Reality or Fantasy? at Wisma Wanita."The way I look at it, all the 35,000 women entrepreneurs have broken the glass ceiling, economically speaking, and are role models to other rural women in Sabah. They also exemplify the concept of 'Women Helping Women'," he said.
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Echoing Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman's view, he said women borrowers are "good paymasters" as reflected in their near 100pc repayment rate.Speaking as a panel speaker, he said: "I am confident that the figure will continue to soar. This phenomenon proves that with industriousness, women have the capacity to break the glass ceiling."Having been with YUM for more than 25 years, I have witnessed how women are able to notch success with just determination and skills.
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"We (YUM) believe in the power of big numbers. We want more women to participate in our micro-credit programme and succeed in their businesses. If that happens, women's success will become a norm and no longer considered an exception by certain quarters, especially the banking institution."Rantau explained YUM's concept of development whereby socio-economic development is from below, boosting the progress of YUM's women borrowers who are made up of those from poor families, housewives, single mothers, small traders, farmers, breeders, fisherwomen and micro entrepreneurs.
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The Director said giving loans to rural women to start their businesses will bring about four desired outcomes. "First and foremost, the credit facility creates pekerjaan sendiri (self-employment). Secondly, through their business, the women are able to increase the household income. Thirdly, they will continue to work hard in striving for an income that is past the Poverty Line Income (Pendapatan Garis Kemiskinan or PGK), enabling them to come out of the Vicious Cycle of Poverty."Fourthly, once they become successful entrepreneurs, they will improve the quality of life of their families," he reasoned.For hard core poor rural women, Rantau said, access to loans is invariably the first important step in breaking the glass wall that has been placed there by the commercial Bank."In reality, this 'glass wall' takes the form of a collateral, a guarantor, the perception that women are weak or inferior, and the belief that women are unable to repay their loans because they are not bankable. That's why in the past, banks never lent women to poor women!"However, the banks were mistaken as YUM has undoubtedly proven that poor women are indeed bankable. In fact, they are more bankable than men," he pointed out.According to him, YUM has come a long way from being a mere Pilot Project in 1988 in Kota Marudu to expansion throughout the State in 1995 and becoming a micro credit institution today.Rantau quoted two women icons who are strong believers of having micro-credit for women. Gender expert Noeleen Heyzer said : "Mircro credit is about much more than access to money. It is about women gaining control over the means to make a living. It is about women lifting themselves out of poverty and vulnerability. It is about women achieving economic and political empowerment within their homes, their villages, and their countries."Former US First Lady, Hillary Clinton said : "The fact is, give a woman a seed that is credit, she will plant it, she will water it, nurture it, then reap it, share its fruits and finally, she will replant it. In this way, step by step, the world's poorest women are leading their families, their communities and their countries to better future. When we help these women to sow, we all reap."Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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