Beibitkul Tohtametova, young widow and mother of three children, became a client of group lending of ACF in 2008. 
She lived in small town Esik, located 45 kilometers south-east from Almaty towards China border. She just accustomed herself to the life without her beloved husband, who died in 2006 in car accident leaving Beibitkul pregnant by third baby and debt he made for setting up a small trade business to sell women cloth at open market of Esik.  The house of the family was pledged for the business loan from local bank.  Beibitkul put all her efforts and paid the debt.  In spite of successful end of borrowing story, she remembered fear of losing the house and feeling of isolation during difficult time.  She was very much pleased with easier terms of group lending, which does not require collateral and gives women the sense of security grounded by group solidarity principle and in someway collectivism.
 
At the time of group loan application her small trade business of total assets of approximately $3,500 was at the start of decline due to insufficient inventory level.  Beibitkul had been using all business earnings for making bank payments and for living expenditures.  In addition she was forced to buy a cheap car for the family needs.  Her youngest son’s illness was accompanied by spasms which required every day massage at the hospital which was located far from her house. In addition one day she was close to losing him: the ambulance came very late.  She thought she would bring the son to the hospital by herself in case she had a car.  Busy business women used all her savings and withdraw half of her inventory from the business to purchase used car for the price of $ 5,000.  In order to bring her business back to the previous level Beibitkul decided to take a group loan.  She approached her business colleagues and friends to form the group. “The group was reliable as I knew all members very much, recalls Beibitkul.  We went for several subsequent cycles and found them to be useful for building up business step by step.” Because her inventory grew up substantially, just recently Beibitkul decided to open second outlet at the open market.  Her life is stable today and she looks with confidence to the future.     

Pleased and prosperous clients are the best award for ACF!