As for Nicaragua, Steege is impressed by the spirit of its people. “Nicaraguans are poor but industrious,” he says. “In Masaya, we visited a micro entrepreneur who collected used soda cans along the highway, melted them down and made things like soap dishes and wall hangings—utilitarian and decorative items for resale.”
In 2007, Steege enlisted the help of local Opportunity International sources in Managua, along with a Managua-based NGO called Asodenic, to create a trust group in Santa María in the country’s northwest corner.
“In all fairness to Asodenic, they said it was primarily an agrarian-based community and if it doesn’t have a large population with a ready market it might be difficult to get their goods to market,” Steege recalls. “I said, ‘Let’s try it … we’ve got folks there who grow beans and who are store owners.’”
Asodenic did a market survey and found enough entrepreneurs to put together a trust group, and educated the folks there on how it works. Steege wasn’t directly involved because Opportunity International believes trust groups are most effective when they’re run by locals.
“My involvement was more on the financial side. Back then, it was something like $5,000 to get a trust group up and running,” he says. In August 2008, Steege traveled to Nicaragua with his son to present an award to the leaders of the Santa María trust group at their one-year anniversary. While there, they visited a client’s tortilla business. But the Santa María group ultimately disbanded because they didn’t get enough support due to their distance to larger markets.
“It was difficult to see it fail,” Steege says. “We do what we can, and we’ll have our failures and successes. That’s the way entrepreneurs and free-market systems work. But if you don’t risk it, there’s never a return.”
He continues to support projects in Nicaragua, as well as elsewhere via Opportunity International’s general funding for various projects around the globe. “With O.I., I feel confident that money is going where it needs to go and is ending up in the pockets of those who need it the most,” Steege says.