When she was done, she took the lead with the kids and everyone followed in an orderly manner. People were very excited to actually walk on the forest’s road without the fear of being zapped by lightning.
Curiosity in the Dark Forest always leads to a bad ending, the walk took a while, and soon everyone was looking at something that they have never seen before.
In front of them was the Phoenix gardens the garden that Alayna had been busy with for a while now. It was a place she made to celebrate introducing her kids to the world but it was unfortunate that it was going to be used for this first before that but that didn’t matter as there are so many occasions to celebrate in the future.
"This is the Phoenix gardens, a place which will be used to hold seminars, celebrations, parties, banquets, and any other things that you want to name. It will be open to the public in the near future for a certain fee but for now, you can all enjoy it.
Anyway, we are not here to enjoy the gardens as I have something important to talk about. Everyone, please be seated; water will be distributed to you and it’s for free so be at peace.
You ...." Alayna ushered more commands to the people sitting down with ease and everything was done as she instructed.
When everyone settled down, Alayna stood at the podium she had prepared for this moment.
"I am very happy to see that most of you have attended this seminar. I won’t waste much of your time and get straight to business. As you all know, I introduced the stokvel program which is not a big problem but what most of you know and probably ignores is that it’s not everyone that can afford to join as not all of us here is wealth.
Most of the people gathered here do odd jobs and they can’t even save 500 copper coins in a year. I am not looking down on them, I am just making an example.
While other people’s lives are being uplifted with the same program, some can even find themselves in a bind. A problem may strike you and render you incapable, you will not have money to give out for your turn and this is something that is troublesome and I believe that many of us have once faced a situation like this.
This is why today I am happy to announce that from today going forward, The Rising Phoenix establishment will be providing loans with low-interest rates to the public.
But listen carefully, not everyone is eligible for the loans. For one to get a loan, you need to provide a soundproof business plan, that is give us a detailed explanation of what you want to do, whether it is buying and selling chickens, and how many chickens you want to buy. How long do you think it will take you to accumulate profits and how much do you think you will need to finish the project?
We will give you the loan based on your estimates and our own investigations. All loans will require some security but don’t worry, we won’t steal anything as I won’t be going anywhere and this will never go away.
My main target at the moment is to help those from the nearby villages first before starting with the rich people. Of course, those who are rich can also come and ask for the loans but this program is something I mainly did to help those that are at the bottom.
This leads me to my second issue, it’s about cooperatives. Cooperatives are ......."
Among the people drinking the spiritual water for free was an influential man from the government. He didn’t look down on people like Alayna as they bring innovative ideas to the community.
Ever since the mysterious shop from the forest went viral, everyone has been visiting the town and as an official, he was very proud of the town he was serving in.
Even the royalty now knows about the shop, so how can he not be touched by anything that Alayna does. The people from the top gave stern instructions to listen and report whatever ideas Alayna comes up with.
Although this was bad, he was glad that Alayna didn’t mind sharing her ideas with people so she didn’t really care if the same ideas were practiced somewhere else.
"Not everyone is born with a talent for business but if we gather as a group of five and start a project, I believe that we can make something of it. So, I was thinking that instead of taking individual loans, you guys can register a cooperative first and then you decide on what you want to do.
You prepare your business plan and for those that are illiterate you can find someone to help you or come to the shop and all your problems will be solved. If your idea is plausible your loan will be given to you. And you will pay back what you owe according to the agreement you signed.
And you need to be cooperative with people that you trust for everything always has danger and risk and we want to minimize that. But as long as your agreement has my name in it, I can guarantee you that the risks will be zero. Anyone who causes trouble in the name of my establishment, the person will be severely punished and it doesn’t matter where the person is.
So, this is what I wanted to talk about with you and share this news with you. Since I am almost done and time is ticking, I will leave the floor for you for questions, and please raise your hands. We want to be as orderly as possible," Alayna spoke softly as she looked at the crowd.
The crowd was currently going through different emotions at the moment and some already had their hands up and Alayna made a few people stand up so that the question-and-answer section can start.
"Please go ahead and ask your question."
{Lady boss, I want to get some clarification. Do you mean that anyone can practically start this cooperative thing?}
"Yes, anyone can start it. That’s from the poor to the rich. You can take it as the unification of people with similar interests. And you can start a cooperative of anything as long as you know what you want to go into."
R𝑒ad lat𝒆st chapt𝒆rs at free𝑤ebnovel.com Only.
{What if we don’t know what we can do and have some money to start something?}
"That’s very simple, I have a list with me of what can be done, so you can come and pick what you want. But this doesn’t mean that you can get the loan, you still need to give us back a feasible business plan. As much as I want to help, I will not throw away money."
{Let’s say that I don’t want a business loan but a personal loan, can I also get it? If it is plausible, what are the requirements?}
"That’s a good question. The loans are not only limited to business loans, my main focus there was simply because through business we can make more money and with more money, but we can also take care of our personal needs without the need to be worried.
So, for personal loans, the requirements will be to give us a reasonable explanation as to why you need it, for example, you may need a loan to build your house but such loans will require you to use your house as leverage in case you can’t pay back, so it’s quite risky. And for people without anything that can be used as leverage with unstable income sources, forming a cooperative will be for the best."
{Can we use the money we get from the stokvel program to do this?}
"Yes, the money you receive from that side is your own so you can do whatever you want with it."
Alayna answered several questions in tow and the time that they agreed upon ended up passing. They didn’t want to go back home and kept on asking and Alayna felt happy seeing this.
This simply showed her how much everyone was accepting this and also thinking of doing this. As much as money was in for her, Alayna just wanted to help the people around her.
There was no point in having a shopping mall at the end of the day when her neighbors were poor. But if everyone is rich, then everyone will benefit. She was on a mission to make others happy and she is included in that.
Seeing everyone faring well was what made her happy. Cultivating was something else, one needed to fill the stomach first before thinking of other things.
The seminar ended around eight in the evening before everyone left reluctantly.
When everyone dispersed, the people were in groups as they chatted happily while going back home. As many of them were commoners with no cultivation, they were walking but they didn’t seem afraid of doing this as were many.