WMI 2023 Annual Report Released

WMI has released its 2023 Annual Report, which is now posted on the web site. By the end of 2023, WMI had issued nearly 100,000 loans to village women totaling nearly 12 million dollars.

Expansion programs are enabling WMI to extend service to greater numbers of village women than ever before.

Please take some time to read about the impact your contributions have had on the village women we serve. Annual Report

Services. BCDC started as a small community based organization in Buseesa village offering an annual medical intervention, staffed by volunteers from the USA, and a loan program serving 100 borrowers.

Today it is a formally registered NGO managing a school, medical clinic, maize mill and microfinance program. WMI borrowers benefit from access to the school and medical clinic BCDC operates and can also utilize the mill to grind their harvested maize into flour, which fetches a higher market price.

Meet the Program Staff. Before stepping back from BCDC in 2021, Nick hired Tusabe Tadeo as Executive Director.

One of the most energetic people on the planet, Tusabe holds a B. A. in Business Administration, a Diploma in Entrepreneurship Development, and a Certificate in Administrative Law.

He is unfailingly willing to travel to distant rural villages to help women launch and manage a new loan program and to train the local leaders how to teach other women basic business and financial skills. Tusabe has promoted the loan program throughout the region and championed the village women who oversee its operations.

Juliet Kisakye is the Microcredit Accountant. She started working with BCDC over 10 years ago and has seen the organization grow from its modest beginnings to a regional service provider. Her institutional knowledge of the organization’s operations is invaluable.

Josephine Muhumuza joined BCDC in 2018 as the medical clinic cashier. In 2019, she was promoted to clinic manager. In 2021, she was promoted again, this time to finance manager.

This leadership triumvirate oversees a staff of a dozen village women and men who manage all program operations.

Loan Program Members. BCDC staff wanted to introduce WMI supporters to a few of the women in the loan program who live in the villages around Buseesa. Borrowers have used their loans both to start new enterprises and expand existing ones.

Lukeya Ngeto. She used her loan to start buying and selling matoke. Before her loan she was only selling tomatoes and palm oil but matoke (green bananas) is so popular that the business is now booming. The training has helped her track her business operations.

Beatrace Kabugho. She is grateful that this program came to her village. She thanks BCDC and WMI for the training and the loan. She has really boosted her tiny business. She now buys and sells jerricans of palm oil, mukene (small silver fish) and ground nuts (peanuts). The loan has really changed her business.

Catherine Kabugho. She was selling swaths of kitenge material for many years and making a small profit. After getting a loan from WMI, she bought a manual sewing machine. Now she can make clothes for her clients and earn a much larger income. She really appreciates the loan program and from the training she has learned how to save money.

Ancillary Programs: Elephant grass biofuel and coffee plantation. In addition to the loans and training, WMI supports ancillary programs in the Buseesa Loan Hub to support women and their families.

In partnership with the non-profit Sun24, we are managing a biofuel project to teach women to grow, harvest and utilize elephant grass for cooking fuel. Many women still use charcoal as a main source of cooking fuel, which contributes to deforestation, creates CO2 emissions, and causes serious health issues. Elephant grass compressed into briquettes is a clean energy alternative. BCDC currently has 5 acres of elephant grass under cultivation and it can be harvested by the women 4-6 times a year.

Another popular program initiated in the BCDC Loan Hub is the co-operative coffee plantation. So far, six acres have been planted and this year is the first harvest. BCDC hopes to start germinating their own cuttings next year. WMI is encouraging families to plant as many coffee plants as they can. It is an exceptionally reliable cash crop and can generate significant revenue to supplement a woman’s business income.

Regional Expansion. With a dedicated, seasoned and willing staff at BCDC, WMI has expanded loan program operations from Buseesa to three additional areas in Southwest Uganda: Kyegegwa, Kasese and Sheema. WMI now serves hundreds of women in these expansion areas.

Kyagegwa. Located about three hours from Buseesa, WMI issued loans to the first borrowers here in 2019. The program has grown steadily and we are training a local woman leader as a part time coordinator to shift from manual tracking of loan data to entering the data into an Excel spreadsheet. Additionally, she will prepare monthly financial and narrative reports.

WMI has supplied the group with their first laptop computer. Our BCDC staff travels to Kyegegwa to train the new borrowers and also to train the loan group leaders to manage program operations. WMI is committed to building local human capacity so that the loan hubs can be managed by and for local village women

Kasese. Located five hours from Buseesa, WMI was first connected to this area in 2021 through Sun24, the NGO we work with on clean energy solutions. Sun24 introduced our Buseesa loan hub leadership team to a Kasese women’s organization that wanted to establish a microfinance program. After conducting trainings and helping the women create simple business plans, funding from an international foundation allowed WMI to issue an initial round of borrowing. Women’s businesses thrived and in fewer than two years, the Kasese village program has grown to several hundred women who maintain a 100% repayment rate. WMI has earmarked this group for expansion.

Sheema. Located eight hours from Buseesa (including two hours of travel on dirt roads), WMI partners with the Kakindo Community Development Center (KCDC) to provide loans and training to village women there. The first loans were issued in Sheema by our BCDC staff just last year. The ladies have performed well and made substantial household improvements from their business income. Additional new borrowers are being added this year as well. The extensive business skills training was well received. Women appreciated learning the basic but crucial information that they need to keep accurate financial records.

Our local partner, KCDC, was excited to provide two women’s biographies for the newsletter (100,00 Uganda shillings is about $30):

Baiia Swimwear Raises Funds For WMI During International Women’s Month



Founded by Amber Boyers, Baiia Swimwear is an international manufacturer of women’s swimwear, headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, which has committed to using recycled polyester fabric made from industrial and post-consumer waste such as fishnets, carpets, plastic bottles and textiles that would otherwise pollute the planet. Baiia’s mission “to create unique and flattering swimwear that empowers all women and honors sustainable practices”.

Their research led to WMI. During a week this past April, and in honor of International Women’s Month, Baiia created a marketing campaign around WMI’s mission, and donated 10% of profits to WMI. We were extremely grateful to receive over 1,500 AUD from this fabulous campaign! We were also delighted with the video Amber created to alert customers to WMI’s long-track record of bringing financial services and training to village women in East Africa. Video.

Thank You!

The WMI Board of Directors is extremely grateful to our donors - you make WMI's work possible. Thank you for your thoughtfulness and commitment to supporting WMI's program to empower rural women and families in East Africa. You are providing a lifeline that is truly making a difference in reducing global poverty.