Chinatrust Charity Foundation (中信慈善基金) yesterday launched an anti-poverty campaign that aims to provide small unsecured loans for disadvantaged families to improve their standard of living by starting their own businesses.
The campaign, conceived by foundation chairman Jeffery Koo Jr (辜仲諒), will offer 200 low-income earners up to NT$500,000 (US$16,900) in unsecured loans to start their own businesses.
“I think it is better to help people earn their own living than just giving them money,” said Koo, the son of Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) founder and chairman Jeffery Koo (辜濂松).
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
This way, disadvantaged families have a better chance of reversing their fates, he said, adding that the nation’s deteriorating living conditions prompted him to act.
Government statistics show that as of July 31, there were 312,000 families, or 860,000 people, who were dependent on social welfare.
“We plan to pump NT$100 million into the campaign against poverty in the next four years, providing loans at preferential interest rates to 200 families who intend to start their own businesses,” Koo Jr said.
To that end, the foundation will secure financial support from Chinatrust Financial, the nation’s third-largest financial service provider by assets, and ask the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (家扶基金會), a non-profit organization, to help screen loan applicants, he said.
STARTING POINT
The anti-poverty campaign is the foundation’s first project and there will be more in future, he said.
“We hope the foundation will keep growing so that one day it may outgrow Chinatrust Financial,” he said.
He set up the foundation in 2004 and took the helm of it three years ago.
Since 2005, the foundation has sponsored a charity campaign called “Light Up the Fire of Life,” where it matches the savings deposits of select low-income families to help them improve their financial status.
“The battle against poverty is not easy, if not impossible,” Koo Jr said. “We hope our effort can bring hope to some.”
DETAILED PLANS
Applicants must file a plan detailing how they intend to use the money to start a business, the foundation said.
If approved, the borrowers are given up to seven years — including a one-year grace period — to repay the loans at an annual interest rate of 1.88 percent, which is subject to quarterly adjustments.
Forty-two applicants have already qualified for loans. One of the first beneficiaries was Hsiao Lian (筱蓮), a divorced mother of three.
“I’m grateful for the loan, which enabled me to own a shop and raise my children,” said Hsiao, who used her loan to open a barbershop in Fongshan District (鳳山), Greater Kaohsiung.
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