The Global Financial Independance Fund Launches

The GFIF - a new microlending institution focused on funding small businesses in developing countries - has just launched it's first loan program.

Ashfield, MA -- The Global Financial Independence Fund (GFIF) is a project that was started by Justin Handley in order to provide micro-lending to small business people in developing countries. Revenue is being generated through the sales of Ebadaka" -- a CD that is a blend of traditional West African kora music and Appalachian banjo and fiddle music. Currently 100% of profits from the sales of this CD are being donated to the GFIF in order to help the organization off of the ground.

CDs to support the organization and informational brochures are available at The Beyond Words Bookshop, the Hemporium, and the Javanet Café in Northampton, MA and online at http://www.cdbaby.com/bakary. The campaign has also had a good deal of success using an email that our associates have been sending out for us. A part of the email is as follows:

The GFIF is a micro-lending organization to small business people in third world countries. Micro-lending is term used to describe loaning money at low interest rates to individuals or groups of individuals in impoverished areas of the world to help them develop economic stability. Weather it is a craftsperson in Africa able to afford their own equipment and shop, or a village in South America to purchase land to grow its own vegetables. In the long run we plan to develop our strategies to incorporate policies that could be used by business entities or governments of developing countries.

The World Bank was the first model of this type of lending, however, unlike the World Bank our loans will go directly into the hands of individuals instead of governments. This grass roots approach has been proven successful from large organizations such as the Grameen Bank from India to small organizations like The Asociacion Beneficia Prisma in Peru. One such example is of Lastenia Lozano Flores who was given $300 to plant a plot of land, the money from their first harvest allowed them to open a small store selling groceries and toiletries. The GFIF hopes help the world control its own future, which breaks away from older practices of trying to control the worlds future.

The first step we need to take to start this organization is to secure the financing necessary to do round one loans -- we need around $20,000 to start with a series of three small loans to businesses in the Gambia. We have calculated an 18 month return on these loans, and are working in conjunction with individuals who are also interested in supporting GFIF, so after the initial loan is paid off, these businesses are going to be voluntarily putting 50% of their profits back into the GFIF to help fund others! After 12 months we will have seen enough return on the original loans to officially open our offices and start taking applications from anywhere in the world for our second round of loans.

The CD has received some great reviews on http://www.cdbaby.com/bakary:

Intelligently and affectionately enlivening the traditional Kora music of The Gambia and cultivating a charming and delicate fusion with western styles and instruments, this creative friend of some of the Gambia's most cherished teachers lovingly weaves a sound both warmly touching and jubilant. Having spent a year absorbing the beauty and mystery of the traditional music and the central cultural themes which are inseparable from the nature of the music, Justin/Bakary constructs a valuable musical and personal bridge between the Atlantic, in a tribute to the mesmerizing magic of this music that upon touching the heart, occupies a special, unforgettable sanctuary of celebration and gratitude. Ebadaka is another, moving example of the universality of musical communication that, through the vocabulary and comprehension of the heart, transcends lines of nationality, language and culture. A tender and poignantly noble fulfillment. Highly recommended." -- Tamara D Turner - CD Reviewer at CDBaby.com

I love your "Ebadaka" CD so much I'm going to feature it on the FRONT PAGE of CD Baby for a few days (Sunday the 19th until Tuesday). What to tell them? That's up to you, of course. But I will letcha know that I'm REALLY picky about what goes on the front page. We get about 40 new albums a DAY coming in here now, (about 12,000 total), and yours is one of the best I've ever heard." Derek Sivers -- Owner of CDBaby.com

For more information please call Justin Handley at (413) 628-4047, check out www.gfif.org, or email at admin@gfif.org.