- LBO Sok Bunthei and his wife, Mrs. Moeung Mal, at latrine production site.
At 42 years old, Mr. Sok Bunthei and his wife, Mrs. Moeung Mal aged 37, have 6 children. They own a thousand-dollar latrine production business in Preah Sdach district, Prey Veng province. With support from iDE, he began his business in June 2012. Currently he is working with 3 active sanitation teachers and additional support from a Business Development Coordinator (BDC) named Mr. Sok Krisna. Up until January, he has sold 600 latrines.
In addition, he provided 108 sets of indirect latrine loans, which he invested through the Federation of Self-Help Group supervised by his own STs. iDE staff asked him about his motivation to lend thousand-dollars to customers knowing that they might not repay him. He responded, “Like other villagers, I am in the middle-class family so this decision was not easy to make at all. I rented this production site for 1,000 USD over a 5-year term contract, which means it cost me 200 USD/year. It will end in 2 months. Looking back, I have been doing business with WASH for over a year. I am pleased with the system and that I can do my part to help poor villagers to have a hygienic latrine at home; especially considering most of my family income came this business besides farming and driving a taxi.” When facing slowing sales, he said, “Back then, during July-October, the villagers started to ignore latrine sales because of flooding. Meanwhile, I was informed about how a MFI and the Federation of Self-help Group, who is certified by the Ministry of Rural Development, got involved with latrine loans for the poor. I came up with the idea of lending all the money I earned to my STs. It was safe because FSHG is also recognized by local authorities, which ensures full-collection with low risk. This strategy strongly helped increase numbers of latrine sales as well as interest benefits.” He added, “To be honest, one of my family members used to get serious diarrhea caused by lack of hygiene. So, I am willing to help others as long as it does not cost me all I have. Beginning in September 2013, I invested 5,000 US D (equal to the cost of 100 latrine sets) to create latrine loans through FSHG with mortgage from STs. Next, STs will issue loans to people in need. People were not informed that it was a loan from me, the LBO, in order to ensure the loans were repaid. I have the original official loan contract, but monthly payment schedules were copied and distributed to all concerned parties (loan recipient, village chief, ST, and me). This loan is limited to the amount of 210,000R (latrine digging and installing services are included), equal to the cost of one latrine set. The loan has a 6-month repayment period with 3% interest charged per month. Like a MFI or bank, 2 repayment options were provided. (i) They can pay capital plus interest or (ii) only interest, monthly. If they choose option 1, the interest will be reduced following actual capital amount – low capital, low-interest. Village chiefs set the collection dates based on the loan issuing dates. STs are aware of collection days, and collect the money from village chiefs’ right on the day they receive it. . STs receive 1/3 of the interest I collect on the loan and can decide how much is appropriate to share with the village chiefs. The interest payment received by STs is in addition to the commission they get from selling latrine sets as agreed with iDE.” Mr. Sok Bunthei expects to make 500-600 USD profit from the loans if he doesn’t encounter any new problems in the months ahead.
We continued to ask him if he is having any challenges getting his money back. He mentioned that running out of capital is a problem, sometimes preventing him from purchasing latrine raw materials and/or hiring more workers. He also noted that the lack of delivery capacity preventing him from meeting larger latrine orders. He currently has 2 trucks but these are still not enough at times. Lastly, he mentioned, “even though this business is very challenging for my family and I, I am still satisfied with the fact that it is growing bigger and I am planning to invest more with better strategy until WASH accomplished its projects.”
- STs Voon (left) and Ros (right) with customers in Koak village
Mr. Vorn Voon, 53 years old, worked as the head of the Federation of Self-help Group and as 1 of the 3 sanitation teachers cooperating with Mr. Sok Bunthei (the LBO). He began working with iDE in 2011 and sold over 1,500 latrine sets. He added, “out of the many LBOs I’ve worked with, LBO Bunthei is the only one brave enough to take this step of offering loans himself. I am confident that everything will go smoothly because we apply an MFI-like loan strategy. Furthermore, I have good relationships with most of local authorities and villagers here. Our loan also appeals to most people as it does not require collateral. So far, 108 loans have been issued and I have earned at least 150 US D per month from these loans and latrine sales.
We also met with more than 20 villagers to learn how they feel having an affordable loan to buy an easy latrine. We heard from multiple people how convenient the latrine is, especially for the women, and that they no longer worry about having to go far away in a frightening open field in dark night or in the thunder rain like before just for defecating. One grandma expressed her happiness, “you know, now my son and granddaughter from Phnom Penh stayed with me 2 days longer than planned because we have toilet. My son is considering building a bathroom next to latrine before Khmer New Year.” Ms. Touch, even jokingly said; “now I can enjoy my personal time in the toilet relaxingly. No one sees me doing my business anymore. Sometimes, I even sing for fun.”
It was worth the journey with amazing teamwork and customers in the field of Prey Veng. We wish each and every one of them the best of luck and healthy in this year of 2014. In the end, we would love to end this journey with this question in mind, “what if we WASH team could make all Cambodian people believe that sanitation and latrine are undeniable important part of their daily living!”
Ms. Sophy Phann | Communication Coordinator | iDE Cambodia
Making Sanitation Easy 