SEED EFFECT

Because of two back-to-back civil wars in Sudan, over two million people were killed and four million people were displaced as refugees. Since 2007, more than eight million South Sudanese have returned to attempt to rebuild their lives from the ground up. Instability persists, however, with the current conflict in South Sudan driving over one million people from their homes and placing seven million in South Sudan at risk of starvation and disease. Consequently, South Sudan is ranked as the most fragile state in the world. The people of South Sudan are among the poorest in the world by statistical standards. Just over half live in extreme poverty and the majority of the other half live barely above that. Only one percent of households have access to a bank account and seventy-five percent of household heads have no formal education. Without the opportunities or resources to lift themselves out of poverty, the outlook for these families appears bleak. Seed Effect empowers the financially poor to break the cycle of physical poverty by providing collateral-free microloans and other financial services to support income-generating businesses. 
We employ a time-tested group lending methodology that provides a group of entrepreneurs with small loans (average first-cycle loans are approximately $100) that are repayable over a short term (first-cycle repayment terms are four months) with frequent repayments (first-cycle loans are repaid weekly). Since our clients do not have traditional collateral, each client cross-guarantees the loans of the other self-selected group members to reduce risk as well as encourage accountability and community. In addition, once loans are repaid, clients can go on to receive additional, larger loans to continue investing in their business. Finally, with the repayment of each loan, the funds can be reissued to other entrepreneurs, thereby multiplying their impact in the community. Seed Effect seeks to provide stability in unstable places and to serve where many others don't. Our goal is to see the newest country in the world transformed by the gospel and the hope of a more stable future through Christ. By empowering men and women to determine their future, provide for their family with dignity, and know and follow Christ, we believe we can help transform the attitudes and physical wellbeing of the people and communities in which we serve. Since Seed Effect distributed its first loans in 2009, over 1,600 clients have been served with over 4,000 small business loans totaling more than $1,000,000 while maintain a repayment rate of ninety-nine percent. Our vision is to establish five new locations in South Sudan over the next five years. By scaling our program to include seven locations, we will be able to leverage the strength of our indigenous leadership team to efficiently reach more people and impact more communities with access to microloans, education and the love of Jesus Christ.