Paty Sab Client Profile: the beauty of integrity

Congolese marketplaces are swamped with half-reliable telecommunication products, be it vodacom or airtel. Street-vending cellphone minutes therefore seems uninspiring, yet the perseverance of Paty is startling. But how did this seemingly ordinary client transform a $100 loan into $2,000?

Paty Sab once prowled the restless Kenya neighborhood where teenagers drive rundown taxi buses. Unlike everyone, Paty found refuge in his family and pastor who introduced him to HOPE. After only 3 loan cycles he had centralized his activities in a small office. He then brilliantly began to buy minutes in bulk in order to print the code encrypted cutouts directly from the Internet. Today, his sales reach some two thousand individual charges per day.

In addition to his entrepreneurial skills, Paty is an example of integrity in his community. HOPE RDC lends through a village banking leadership structure. In a society prone to corruption, Paty was logically appointed treasurer and has contributed to the staggering saving rates of his brothers and sisters in Christ. In retrospect, he affirms that, through HOPE, “I learned what it means to be fair and honest.”

Paty and Jeanette have been married for a year and are the proud parents of Bryan, only a month old. Paty is also the choir director of his church where he regularly praises the Lord. The red clay of Lubumbashi is a continuous reminder of the paternalism inflicted by current and previous leaders, but stories such as Paty Sab remind us that empowerment means freedom.