Earley’s Peruvian venture

St Nicolas Church in Earley, Reading, has become the first church in the UK to establish a Microfinance Trust Bank, to help tackle poverty in Peru.

The church has teamed up with Oxford-based charity Opportunity International UK to establish the bank, raising £5,000 by forming a large coin map of Peru on the floor of the church. Microfinance Trust Banks offer the world’s poorest people micro business loans to break out of poverty and set up their own businesses.

Opportunity International UK (OIK) believes it is better to make small loans to help people work themselves out of poverty and encourage entrepreneurship, rather than hand-outs which can create a culture of dependency.

A Trust Bank initiative brings together 10-30 entrepreneurs to guarantee repayment of each other’s loans and provide a peer support group that finds solutions to business, family and community needs.

The average size of loan is just £65. And as 98 per cent of loans are repaid funds can be recycled again, helping more people.

Margaret Barnes, a member of St Nicolas and supporter of OIK says: ‘The congregation felt very strongly that it wanted to help provide long-term continuous help to people in poorer countries. Microfinance is a new initiative for churches that we think will help alleviate world poverty while retaining people’s dignity.’