Highlighting the first half of 2011 results of BRJ in Saudi Arabia, Abdulrahman Al-Fihaid, BRJ executive director in Saudi Arabia, announced that the productive household program created 15,067 jobs, which represents 58 percent of the total job opportunities created during the first half of the year.
Based on the micro-finance concept, the productive household program provides interest-free loan of SR5,000 to a group of three to five women to start their own micro projects, such as selling accessories, wedding accessories, gift wrapping, embroidery, perfumes and perfume mixtures, makeup and other fields.
The program includes several stages, the first of which starts with a loan of SR2,000, and reaches SR6,000 for every woman.
According to Al-Fihaid, the idea of this program is similar to Grameen Bank loans, but it is not associated with interest. Instead, it is an interest-free loan. Since 2004, a total of 109,832 females have benefited from the program.
Aziza Al-Yanbuawi, one of the productive household program’s beneficiaries in Jeddah, said she has started her successful perfume selling project, and she is looking to move to the second stage and get a bigger loan, so she could expand her activities. Currently, Aziza's monthly income ranges from SR1,800 to SR2,000.
The small projects finance program created 2,304 job opportunities through 2,304 small projects, of which 1,786 projects were for women and 519 projects for men. The program provides young men and women with interest-free loans up to SR150,000 to achieve their new or existing projects.