Mama Coulibaly

30 min. 2005 DVD / VHS german
Microfinance schemes, which offer development loans to the poor, have enabled millions to turn their lives around. We report on how they’ve helped one village in Mali.

Eight years ago, development workers arrived at the remote village of Yebe. “They didn’t give us any money but they explained how to build up a co-operative bank”, states the village elder. With a loan of only 30 euros, Mama Coulibaly was able to buy a sack of corn which she sold at a profit. “I was able to pay back the money very quickly and I got another loan. My business developed in this way”. Today she runs a small shop and is the only person in her village to have a television. As another villager sates; “This bank has opened up opportunities for us which were unthinkable eight years ago”.