Vision

Color Me In! believes that everyone has the right to build a life based upon their full potential.

Character growth, skills development, accountability and sustainability are all integral building blocks in this process.   

What Do We Do?

Color Me In! supports entrepreneurs and environmental preservation in Zambia through micro-loans and planting trees.

Why?

We believe that there is incredible value in offering someone the tools that they need to continue growth on their own over the long term. We focus on helping clients in Zambia to evaluate their vision for a small business and get the process going by offering non-collateral loans and ongoing consultation services. 

With the return on our loans and through your contributions, we support various community-led activities planting trees for fruit, shade, fodder, nitrogen fixation and timber.

Zambia is one of the eleven countries in the world remaining with over 50% forest cover, however it looses 1% of forest each year and was fourth largest contributor to deforestation from 2000-2005 (FAO)

Our world is our responsibility, and lasting change will depend upon our ability to responsibly manage both environmental and economic resources. 

So How Does it Work?

From 2008-2010, we offered clients in Zambia an alternative lending model which we called "Green Loans." Clients could get a business loan (often for a small income generating activity such as keeping chickens, pigs, bees or buying a sowing machine) and pay back a portion of their debt by planting one tree per $1 USD borrowed (k 5,000). This worked well as an introductory program and in two years over 20,000 trees were planted and $35,000 invested in small business start-up. 

Today, we are beginning to move forward with Green Loans 2.0. Rather than accept the majority of our repayment in trees, we are signing clients to pay back a bigger portion of their loan in cash with a very small annual interest rate (0-10%). Our goal is to eventually grow into a charitable lending service providing extensive training in small business management, ongoing support, and accountability in order to help motivated groups in the rural to semi-urban areas successfully increase and manage their income. 

We also maintain a strong commitment to the environment, and aim to support small businesses which utilize natural resources in a sustainable manner, as well as contribute to the healthy maintenance of forests through community education and tree planting.