Rushanara Ali, Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow and Shadow Minister for International Development, has made a generous loan to a farmer living in poverty in Cambodia through www.lendwithcare.org.

Rushanara Ali is the first Labour MP to make a loan through revolutionary new initiative, Lendwithcare.org, which encourages people in the UK to lend relatively small amounts to small scale entrepreneurs running their own enterprise in developing countries.

Rushanara Ali’s loan will assist Khon Soeurn, a local farmer based in O Kam Bot village which is in Ek Phnom district in Battambang province. Khon Soeurn grows rice, maize and cucumber with the help of her husband. Khon has sought a loan in order to buy a small boat that will facilitate transportation, particularly of the rice, to local merchants. This will help her to expand her business and provide for her family, including education costs for their two children, who are nine and six years old.

Currently operating in Cambodia, Togo, Benin and the Philippines, Lendwithcare.org is an exciting innovation from CARE International UK enabling poor people – especially vulnerable, marginalised women – to find their own route out of poverty and support themselves and their families over the long term. As opposed to making a one-off donation, members of the public can lend from just £15 directly to a chosen individual in the developing world to help them start or improve a small business. This enables people from poor communities to earn income, send their children to school, feed their families and gain economic independence as their business grows.
Rushanara Ali said: “I was really attracted to the entrepreneurial spirit behind lendwithcare.org. I believe that providing the opportunity and framework for people to help themselves is a fantastic innovation. I know people are willing to work to repair their lives; they just need even the smallest of leg-ups to get them started. I look forward to following the progress of Khon Soeurn’s business via lendwithcare.org.”