Microcredit Customer of the week = Ecopra Caffungi , growing mushrooms on coffee residue

Less than a year ago, Ecopra knocked on our door for a micro loan. They were crazy enthusiast for bringing their new product to the market. The idea was to collect coffee residue from local bars with a bike and produce mushrooms by using the coffee residue. The owners were so enthusiast, that I could only accept support their project. Off course their financial plan was also well developed but at microStart we first look at the person. In this case, the owners were/ are very trustworthy and their project was very good. The first idea was to conduct only B2B. However, the first half a year was a bumpy road. They were forced to take a second microcredit due to liquidity issues. The team proved to be resilient and changed the focus to B2C. Ecopra, under the label Caffungi now produces mushroom kit. This kit holds coffee residue and the mushroom can grow easily in your home. I had the chance to taste these mushrooms and I must say, they were delicious! This weekend Ecopra launches Caffungi in Carrefour Schoten, one of the largest retailers in Belgium. We wish them a lot of success and I can’t wait to purchase one of this kits myself! Watch the video (in Dutch) here: http://atv.be/nieuws/antwerpse-chefs-prijzen-zelfgekweekte-oesterzwammen-aan-20191#.VjkLmkbF4Fw.facebook

Starterslabo, Start

Toets aan de markt, is een workshop in het project Start van Starterslabo. Kandidaten stellen hun project voor. Ik mocht zetelen in de jury samen met Wilfied Marien van PMV Vlaanderen, de organisatie die startersleningen geeft aan (aspirant) ondernemers met zeer gunstige interestvoeten die niet bij de bank terecht kunnen. Net zoals microStart maar zonder begeleiding, sociale inslag en hogere bedragen. Een microkrediet van microStart telt als eigen inbreng bij PMV. Hierdoor kunnen starters met meer middelen opstarten en of uitbreiden indien het nodig is. microStart X PMV is een mooie samenwerking waar reeds vele klanten mee gediend zijn geweest.

Ideaal dat Wilfried en ik dan in de jury zaten. De cursisten van Starterslabo stelde zeer leuke projecten voor: veganistische catering, tentenverhuur, lokaal gidsen, financieel makelaar, crystal stenen verkoper, shiatsu massage en meubelstoffeerder. 6 van de 7 projecten had zeker potentieel. Hieronder enkel foto’s van de aspirant ondernemers. Ik hoop dat zij alle 6 hun ondernemersloon waarmaken want ik ben alvast toekomstige klant van een aantal producten!

Throwback Thursday for microStart Antwerp

In 2 weeks we are celebrating 1 year official opening of microStart Antwerp. I can’t believe that the official opening was 18 November 2014. So many things have happened ever since. I started setting up microStart Antwerp in March 2014. In the beginning I didn’t have an office and a lot of people came to my house. I saw other people in their own business or in restaurants and bars. It was difficult to work, yet I arrived at 40 micro credits before I hired a microcredit advisor. In August 2014, we both worked side by side to make sure that we could open the microcredit agency before the end of the year. Pieter Vermeyen, my first advisor of microStart and I worked on the average more than 12 hours a day. In the summer I remodelled an old BNP Paribas office and on November 18 2014 we opened our office officially. Here a few photos to what our office used to look like…

This is what the original BNP Paribas office looked like before we tore it all dozn to create microStart Antwerp. 

Tearing it all down….

Time Flies: It's Already Been a Year! →

Amanda Good has been working for one year with street children in Rwanda, for an organisation called Hope for Life Ministries. In order to continue this project and achieve results 12,000 US dollars need to be raised. Read her story and decide. You can make a tax deductible contribution by mailing a check to “Breakthrough Partners”, Breakthrough Partners, 110 Third Avenue N., Ste. 101 
 Edmonds, WA 98020 *Make sure to note “HFLM: Amanda Good”. Or you can use a credit card online at: http://www.hopeforlifeministry.org/donate.html.