Revolving fund social enterprise in Japanese urban areas

Revolving fund social enterprise in Japanese urban areas

The situation in urban areas across the globe is getting complicated based on the ever-growing population. Rapid urbanization trends, high population growth rates, urban poverty, as well as urban-rural migration, are the primary factors that contribute to this problem. Based on the rate at which these factors are spreading, they seem unstoppable in the foreseeable future. It is quite unfortunate that the high growth rate experienced in urban centers is more compared to new employment opportunities. In this regard, many people in these regions live below the poverty line and are unable to meet their basic human needs. It is a problem that is getting worse every day, and therefore something needs to be done to find a lasting solution to this problem (Kim, Yamaguchi, Kimura, Ko, Ikeda, & Shimoda, 2019).

Most challenges in urban centers and big cities are associated with insufficient income. The majority of people in the urban centers lack the revenue required to meet their immediate basic needs for shelter, fuel, foods, essential health care, and to meet the traveling cost to work. Due to lack of income, they do not have the right diet, and therefore they are at significant risk of health challenges. Moreover, it is hard for such individuals to invest in good education and training that might enable them to get better wages. Lack of income also makes it hard for people in urban areas to save and secure assets, which makes their lives extremely hard in the future. It is a problem that needs to be solved to ensure such people enjoy a decent future with a standard livelihood. Besides, the country’s economy is also at risk if actions fail to be taken to help in enhancing the income of the urban dwellers. Various steps can be made to help such individuals improve their lifestyles.

Japan

This study will focus on japan since it is one of the countries across the globe with a high population across the world. For some years, there has been massive rural to urban migration in Japan, which has led to population pressure in most cities and large towns in this country. Based on statistics, the urban population of this country increased from 10 to 89 million between 1920 and 1980, thus making an increase from 18 to 76 percent. Today, this population has risen tremendously beyond what most urban centers in Japan can handle. The largest part of this population includes the young people who decided to move to urban areas in search of jobs, and when they fail to get those jobs, they opt to remain there, which causes more problems. The majority of these dwellers lack means of acquiring the minimum basics of living, which calls for the government to devise a mechanism to help them before the cases get out of hand. There are several steps which the Japanese government and other agencies need to do to enhance and improve the income of the urban dwellers so that they can have a good lifestyle. One of them is developing a social enterprise (Satoh, Tsukahara, & Yamamoto, 2018).

Revolving loan funds social enterprise

Since the primary need for the Japanese living in an urban area is increased capital, it is vital to create a social enterprise that will enable them to get more opportunities to get more incomes that help them meet their needs. Revolving loan funds is the most effective social enterprise suitable for such individuals. A revolving loan fund refers to the financing measures whose fundamental role is enhancing people’s lives by providing a loan for them where they pay back with a little interest. It is a self-replenishing pool of money where the principal payment, as well as the interest, are utilized to issue loans (Das, 2015). The revolving loan funds play a significant role in improving people’s lives by providing them with money to carry out different projects. For this enterprise to be effective, there is a need for having professionals and experts as managers of this enterprise. They will understand how to handle its affairs and manage it to meet the set targets and realize the vision with the stipulated timeline.

Revolving social enterprise needs to be implemented in Japanese urban areas. People should be put together in several groups where they should decide on a specific amount of money they should be contributing on a monthly bases as they grow their account. After realizing a Respecific amount of money, they set out a strategy of how they can provide loans to people in need and the amount of interest to receive back. It will be possible to start offering loans to members before non-members so that they find out the challenges that might be there and solve them before they offer to loan to non-members. It is a process that should be done with transparency and integrity for the members to achieve their goals with the stipulated time. The money will grow with time and provide the members with enough to carry out the process to which they need to enhance the income and improve their lifestyle. Moreover, part of the interest should be channeled to improving the way of life of urban dwellers in Japan. The following are proposals on how to utilize the interests gained from the loans:

Training and technical support

Since most urban dwellers lack the necessary skills and knowledge to handle professional jobs hence making it hard for them to get employed by the companies operating there(Tanaka, Ohmura, Folini, Wild, & Ohkawara, 2016).

Similarly, when they manage to get jobs, they earn meager pay, which is insufficient to meet all their basic needs. In this regard, it is crucial to provide training for such individuals so that they can acquire the necessary skills and knowledge that are needed to handle professional jobs (Kariya, 2018). The Japanese government should subsidize the money paid for this training so that the interest from the social enterprise should be enough. Also, it is essential to ensure that the training institutions are well equipped to ensure quality training is provided to students so that they have better skills to handle different jobs.

Moreover, t

echnical support should also be offered indiscriminately of age in the field of information technology. For instance, they should be provided with the devices they need to discharge their duties and responsibilities effectively. Since there is too much crime, such as cybercrimes happening in different organizations, technicians need to be nurtured on how to combat such crime.  Such skills will provide people in urban areas with advantageous positions to earn employment. In regard, it will be possible for people in crowded urban areas to increase their income and have enough money to meet their basic needs. Therefore, it is evident that acquiring technical know-how will go a long way in enhancing the way of life for the people living in crowded urban areas.

Provide enabling environment for business

Based on the increased number of people in Japanese urban areas, there can never be enough opportunities for everyone. Many of them will still be left out, and therefore, it is crucial to help them find out how they can earn a living. The most effective way is to help them in running a business. Since not many people have the necessary knowledge and skills in learning business management, part of the interests from the social enterprise needs to be utilized in helping people in urban areas gain the skills necessary to run a business. Moreover, the money should be used to create many business opportunities to ensure the majority of jobless people are engaged in the business.

However, for the business to runs successfully, the government should be committed to providing a friendly environment for business. For instance, the government should not overtax the business, which discourages people, especially those who are struggling with financials. Besides, to ensure success in business, the government, as well as other agencies, needs to provide financial grants and other forms of support to ensure they handle the challenges they encounter in the business. If the business is collapsing due to a lack of enough money to add the stock, the government should provide them with the money they need to restock and revive the business again. Therefore, it will be possible for individuals in urban areas to lead a decent lifestyle and have a good income to meet their basic needs.

Encouraging local and foreign investors

Foreign investors play a fundamental role in the growth and development of the economy in every country. The countries that have created a conducive atmosphere for foreign investors, the growth is evident. They help in boosting the economy and therefore enhance the way of life of the citizen in that country. In this regard, the Japanese government should make an effort to attract local and foreign investors in urban areas so that they can help in solving the challenges of low income as well as unemployment witnessed in cities such as Tokyo, Hiroshima, and others.

Some measures have been put in place by the government and other agencies that encourage foreign investors with specific skills to invest in Japanese urban centers. It will also be essential to provide those investors with a platform to engage the business people in Japan and advise them on the steps they need to take to be successful. For instance, the government has changed its policy, which has not become quite friendly to investors. The measures are designed to reduce the number of jobless youth in large towns by increasing employment opportunities.

This is a move that will help many people struggling with unemployment in urban centers. The advantage with the jobs created by the foreign investors, they do not require much skills and experience, and therefore, many people without much job skill stand a chance to secure the employment that gets the income they need to meet their basic needs. Several investors have already been working for some time, and the change is evident. Research shows that the rate of unemployment is reducing while most people are capable of improving their lifestyle. Therefore the government should do everything in its capacity to ensure there are as many foreign investors as possible.

Use of technology to enhance urban agriculture

The urban farming refers to the practice of cultivating, distributing, and processing food in urban areas. It can also involve aquaculture, animal husbandry, urban keeping, agroforestry as well as horticulture. The urban agriculture can reflect the varying levels of social development and economic. Hence, it established the network that evolves and gains as they receive formal institutional support and become integrated into the planning of the local town. Some individuals use it as food security, income generation, and nutrition (Pagliara, Mauriello, Di Martino, 2019). In whichever way it is used, it helps the urban dweller have more direct access to fruits, fresh vegetables, fresh meat, and other food products that the urban dweller struggle to get. In this regard, urban agriculture plays a very fundamental role in improving food security as well as food safety in urban areas.

Most of the urban centers in Japan have outstanding potential for agriculture. Therefore it is vital for the urban dwellers to tapping into this potential and find how they can practice farming. Since the use of technology can be expensive, and the money from the social enterprise can barely be enough, the government should chip in and help people realize this dream. Low-income urban dwellers should be provided with the facilities and knowledge they need to carry out this form of farming. Since they have no big farms, technology can be used to utilize the small pieces of land that are available to enhance farming. Since the government has plenty of professionals and experts with advanced knowledge in IT, they should be availed so that they can help the urban dwellers on the steps they need to take to be successful in this form of farming. Once this farming is carried out, it will play a very fundamental role in enhancing the way of life for the people in Japan’s urban centers. For instance, they will not spend much money on buying foods as they currently spend. This means that the income they get will be enough for other expenses. It will be possible for them to handles the many challenges they encounter in daily life.

Subsidized health services in urban areas

Japan is one of the countries with costly health services. Hence, they are inaccessible by many people living below the poverty line in this country. People in urban areas are most affected since there are many causes of diseases based on the conditions in some parts of the cities. Hence, they require to visit health facilities quite often to get medical advice from a health practitioner based on their health. It is a costly exercise, and hence many people are not able to seek medical help when they are sick due to financial problems (Yoshino, Taghizadeh & Nakahigashi, 2019). Other people end up spending most of the income in hospitals, and sometimes it is barely enough. In this regard, they are not able to secure the health of their families due to the little income. This is quite unfortunate that most people succumb to their illness, and therefore, it is an issue that ought to be handled with utmost seriousness. A solution has to be found based on what should be done in urban areas to help the people suffering based on their inability to access quality health care.

The various organization can join forces and use part of the interest obtained in the revolving fund to find out how they can set up health facilities to serve the urban dwellers in Japan. If the money they have cannot be enough, they should look for other ways to get money, such as applying for grants from non-governmental organizations as well as urging the government to chip in. Those hospitals should offer subsidized health services to individuals and also find a way of helping those who lack money.

With such a hospital in operations, it will be possible for the Japanese in cities and large towns to utilize their income to meet all their needs and remain with money to make other development. Besides, the health of people will improve significantly, which will enable people to engage in the growth and development of the economy. Their income will rise be raised that will improve their standard of living and their health as well. Therefore, setting up hospitals in urban areas in Japan will be a very important step towards helping in these areas makes good use of their income (Sano & Kongo, 2019).

Providing education to the children

Every society should educate its children as it prepares for future challenges. It is quite unfortunate for a society that does not take their children to school since they will always be lagging in terms of growth and development. The failure to educate the children will cause many problems in society and it will hard to get their solutions. The urban dwellers in Japan have shown a great interest in educating their children in different schools. However, most of them are not financially stable to meet the expenses required for the education of their children. This is because they do not get enough income to pay school fees as well as meet other domestic needs for their families (Shiwaku, Sakurai, & Shaw, 2016).  In this regard, some parents have decided not to take their children to schools since it is very expensive. Most of the excellent schools in these regions are quite costly, and therefore only a few people are financially able to support the education of their children. This is an issue that needs to be considered since it will cause many problems in the future. There will be no enough professionals or experts with relevant skills and knowledge to handle different jobs. The government will immensely lose if it fails to take action to provide education to the young generation.

Though the social enterprise of the urban dwellers, this issue can be solved by using the little money from this project to set up learning institutions for the children. These learning institutions should charge little money as school fees, which the majority of parents can afford. The parents who have been unable to educate their children due to financial constraints will get a good opportunity to take their children to school. If possible, the children from parents earning very little income should be offered scholarships. No child will be allowed to drop out of school since his or her parents cannot afford school fees. This will allow such parents to utilize their income in other areas within the family. In this regard, the urban dwellers in japan will be able to secure their future (Huy, 2019).

Conclusions

Therefore, the revolving loan fund is the best enterprise for Japanese citizen living in urban areas. It will play a fundamental role in enhancing the income of such individuals and enable them to improve their livelihoods. The interests obtained from the enterprises is used to cater for some of the things which initially would have otherwise been catered for using using income. Poverty in most urban neighborhoods have been as a result of huge expenses but little income. Hence,  the revolving fund social enterprise is a great relief to the individuals in the urban areas of this Japan. It guarantees a significant population a tremendous and productive future. The implementation of this program will put an end to most issues originating from unemployment and high poverty levels faced by urban dweller

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