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ANNUAL FIELD VISIT REPORT
Another trip around the sun and that means another field visit to the WMI loan hubs in East Africa for WMI President, Robyn Nietert. This is the WMI loan program's nineteenth year of operation!
WMI Headquarters in Buyobo
Our headquarters compound is always a beehive of activity – from ladies cleaning rice to taking delivery of bugoyas (yellow bananas) for the upcoming banquet at the annual community celebration. Our Executive Director, Olive Wolimbwa, and her second, Jackie Namonye, are ever-present, overseeing whatever needs to be done. Even sitting outside to take a break comes with a lap full of loan program forms and borrower checklists to reconcile. In the executive office suite, Milly Walimbwa, WMI’s finance director, is always at her computer (occasionally with her young son Levi by her side) while Olive can be found at her desk, frequently discussing business with bankers, government officials, service providers, and visitors (often dressed in one of her many stunning traditional gomezi).
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Our Headquarters location now serves over 3,000 rural women in Eastern Uganda.
Our loan products include: the first-time borrower program with loans up to $150, Alumni loans of $200, Senior loans of $275, and Asset-based loans that range from $1,400 to $2,775.
WMI's loan services have evolved hand-in-hand with the women's businesses. The dedicated staff keeps the loan program running smoothly.
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Elections
My visit this year coincided with Uganda national elections, which happen every 5 years. The government shut down the internet and international cell phone service for five days surrounding the elections to “avoid chaos”. Voting in our village went smoothly - Olive and her team lined up outside the police station to cast their paper ballots.
Afterwards, the ballots were dumped on the ground in a cordoned off section outside the police station, which was surrounded by a throng of villagers, and the ballot box was shaken vigorously to make sure all ballots were emptied. One by one the election officials picked up the ballots, called off the winner, passed the ballot to another official for verification, and then handed it to the party representative. When the counting was done, the ballots held by each party representative were tallied and the total matched against the list of villagers who had voted to make sure the count was accurate. Afterwards, the ruling party held an impromptu victory parade down Buyobo’s main road.
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Annual Celebration
Loan program members gathered for a joyous celebration of their achievements throughout the year. Singing, dancing, short plays, and speeches marked the festive occasion.
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Showing Off Their Wares
Since the inauguration of the first trade show and exhibition of ladies’ businesses at the annual celebration last year, a business showcase has been included in major events organized at WMI headquarters.
This year the ladies continued the tradition and it was an opportunity to see the products that are popular in the local market right now and how the ladies have adjusted their business to meet consumer demand. Purses, tote bags, shoes, baskets - in fact - containers of all kinds topped the list.
A special shout out to Sarah (above, right), who was taken in by the local staff a number of years ago when she lost her home, and given a job cleaning the offices. She since applied for and received a loan and now proudly operates a small business selling shoes.
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The Spouses' Committee
The husbands of WMI borrowers formed a spouses' committee over a decade ago to support their wives in their drive to become successful businesswomen. The gentlemen have been a valuable resource in liaising with community members, elders, and government officials. Officers Alex Namonye and Moses Mangala delivered these heartfelt words of admiration.
"Looking at what the project has done, I always imagine how the dream of WMI was created and how zealously WMI is building it up. The local and women are now business owners, some are also hiring people in their businesses, creating jobs for some other citizens. Eighteen years down the road, the project has led to families developing, children have been educated, others have graduated in different careers, while others are still underway."
"The project has not left families the same way, families have stabilized since both men and women contribute to the wellbeing of the families. The joint contribution has reduced pressures from one source hence family developments and health improvements. The program has lengthened its shadow to the communities improving health and sanitation through the water scheme, public toilets, school and church support, community cleaning, and programs for the children, among others. All this cannot go without appreciation as a proverb in one of our local languages states, “Ettesiima, ebula agiwa.” (The ungrateful soul will miss out a giver). May you receive our heartfelt gratitude for all your support and your sacrifice."
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Graduates
The annual community celebration focused on the achievements of the children of WMI borrowers. It was a terrific idea, conceived by our loan program staff, to show how the impact of a rural woman launching her own business crosses generations. The ladies asked, “How can we measure the significance of our daughters and sons attaining university, college and technical school degrees because we could pay their fees with our income? Before we had businesses we could not even dream they would finish secondary school.” Moms beamed proudly as their children were honored.
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Youth Programs
WMI supports youth programs for children of borrowers including Girls and Boys Club (GBC) and the Buyobo Table Tennis Club (BTTC). The youth were invited to make presentations at the staff meeting at the end of my visit.
GBC meets after school and is run by Teacher Beth who creates very powerful and straightforward lesson plans to teach the kids about healthy relationships, emotional regulation, personal health, and basic business skills. The GBG composed a song about the program and the kids turned in a heartfelt performance. Some of the verses they sang, “We were filled with anger and now have found a way out through Girls and Boys Club. The straight talk kids get in Girls and Boys Club we don’t get from our parents who are too shy to talk about these issues. Say No to Sugar Daddies! Say No to Sugar Mommas!”
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The BTTC youth were equally enthusiastic about their Club and conveyed as much in their performance, thanking WMI for the ongoing support. The scholarships that several team members have won to secondary school have given all team members the hope of a top-quality education.
A surprise announcement, from a special guest, Coach Robert (right), Dean of Students and Director of Sports at Uganda Christian University (UCU), who was invited to the WMI annual celebration by team coach, Kevin Mafabi (left), made that hope real.
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Coach Robert had seen the BTTC team play at a tournament last year and was so impressed by their skills that he donated uniforms.
Watching them turn in a stellar performance during school holiday competition, he pledged that any team member who finishes Senior 6 (12th grade) will be awarded a full scholarship to UCU.
Born and raised in a nearby village, Robert said he wanted to give our hardworking athletes the chance to acquire a university education and play at the highest amateur levels.
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Digital Transition
The digital transition continues in both of our loan hubs in Uganda. Over 5,000 rural borrowers will make the switch to digital payments by the end of 2026. It is a very tedious process. The software has to be tweaked constantly as WMI is a village-level microfinance program and does not operate in the same way as the conventional MF institutions which the platform was developed to accommodate.
Milly Walimbwa, WMI’s Finance Manager, has been the digital transition point person at our Buyobo Headquarters. She has recently been testing the tablets we purchased for all of our Local Coordinators to see that the borrowers groups that they are responsible for have been properly loaded on to the devices and that their loan information can be inputted.
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BUYOBO TOWN CENTER IS BRIMMING WITH WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES
What was once a muddy track with a few struggling businesses is now a bustling crossroads of commercial activity. The village’s main streets are lined with businesses conducted from “lock-ups”, which are 8’X10’ brick storerooms that house shops, tailors, drug stores, mobile money brokers – you can now find just about any kind of goods or services that you need in downtown Buyobo.
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Stella Celina is a tailor and she has been in the WMI loan program for five years. With training from WMI she developed her idea of how to set up a business. She went through formal tailoring lessons, then one of her village colleagues took her under her wing and showed her how to make dresses. Stella learned how to sew different styles and patterns and how to improvise. She told us, “It is quite a good business to have a tailoring shop. Lots of ladies like to have their dresses made.” She handles competition by being dependable and reliable. She makes dresses on time, meets deadlines, and uses good materials. Sourcing material from the Congo and Nigeria, she is able to offer different patterns.
Stella has 4 children - all girls. She pays all their school fees with the income from her businesses. Husband very supportive. He takes her around on a boda (motorcycle) to buy materials. He is a carpenter.
Stella loves her job. She is renting a lock up now but is building one of her own. When it is finished she will shift her business there and then happily told us, “No more paying rent!”
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Fiona Namboza has been in the WMI loan program for three years and opened her shop with her first business loan. She has many customers who come to buy shoes (clogs are very popular), soda, and to load mobile money on their phones. Business is good. She said, “People in the village have money to spend because so many ladies have businesses.” Her business plans include adding more electronic products, which are very popular right now. That’s how she will use her next loan.
Fiona has two children and a husband who is very happy that she has a business. He helps her our when she needs an extra hand and will go pick up a supply of sodas when she runs out. She observed that, “The loan program is really helpful. It was not like this in Buyobo before. No shoes were available anywhere.”
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Rita just got back from voting - she and her young son were waiting by the police station with the rest of the village for the votes to be counted. She runs a hair salon in Buyobo. Ladies love to get their hair done. Braiding takes a lot of time and she has learned how to create many complicated styles. After the harvest of various crops, business is very brisk because that’s when ladies have money to spend on little luxuries like a new hair-do.
Rita enjoys the creative part of having a hair salon and helping ladies look their best.
In addition to the income, she can now generate, her business has helped her build her self-confidence.
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Fiona Nandi is also a tailor and has been in WMI for four years. She uses her loans to buy different fabrics and restock her shop. She deals with competition by catering to regular customers and knowing their names and preferences.
Although she enjoys sewing, Fiona realized that it is smart to diversify and she has become a coffee trader. She buys the raw berries, processes them, and then sells her value-added product for twice the price that the raw berries fetch.
Fiona has also bought two cows and land, which she considers an investment. She built her own lock-up, where she operates her tailor shop, and is very happy that she does not have to pay rent.
Every Tuesday, like clockwork, she saves $5.00 and is proud to be such a regular saver. She told us it helps her plan for the future. Fiona has three children under the age of seven and uses her income to pay school fees.
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Betty Mugombe - no visit to Buyobo is complete without a chat with Betty Mugombe, one of the area’s most successful businesswomen. She has been in the WMI loan program for over a decade and uses her loans to buy inventory and pay for transport when she is stocking up on charcoal.
She has diversified income streams but one of her most reliable businesses is selling fuel for cooking stoves. Each week she sells about 15 sacks of charcoal (weighing 50 kilos each) and makes a profit of $5 on each sack. She uses a pika-pika (three wheeled vehicle) to transport the heavy sacks and is saving to buy her own vehicle through WMI’s new asset-based loan product.
She finds her second-hand Starbucks apron very useful and quite durable. We're sure the company would be pleased to know it has been successfully re-purposed for village use!
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ROAD TRIP TO WMI'S SOUTHWESTERN UGANDA LOAN HUB
Just a ten hour drive from our Headquarters in Buyobo, WMI’s Southwestern loan hub is located in the village of Buseesa, about an hour from the town of Mubende.
Our local partner, Buseesa Community Development Centre (BCDC), is collaborating with us to manage the nearly 2,000 women in the WMI loan program in this region, including the far flung sub-hubs in Kyegegwa, Kasese, and Sheema (just 10 miles from the border with the Congo).
We finished construction of the BCDC office building two years ago and it is now the busy hub of loan program activities. WMI also supports significant agricultural outreach programs in this areas to supplement the businesses the women launch with their loans and to help the ladies diversify their incomes. The BCDC staff includes agriculture officers who provide training and assistance for the women.
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Growing Coffee Seedlings for Income, Grevillea/Eucalyptus trees for Reforestation, and Elephant Grass for Bio-Fuel
This loan hub has developed forward-thinking agricultural projects to support the women in the WMI loan program. Under the supervision of BCDC's Executive Director, Tusabe Tadeo, WMI supported the construction of a tree nursery and elephant grass farm to give families an additional boost.
Coffee - A very reliable cash crop in this part of the world, our target is to distribute 11,500 coffee plants grown in the nursery to 100 families who have been trained and who have dedicated one-quarter acre each to intensive coffee production.
Reforestation – After the devastating destruction of local trees (which were purchased by Chinese companies for lumber production) we are raising thousands of fast-growing grevillea and eucalyptus seedlings for distribution to rural families to plant along boundaries and interleave with coffee plants. These trees will help regenerate the soil, prevent erosion, and shade crops.
Elephant Grass – Grown on five acres through a grant from Sun-24, the elephant grass is harvested twice annually and compressed into bio-fuel, a sustainable cooking alternative to charcoal and firewood.
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Adding Value to Coffee
Coffee is a reliable crop to grow in this part of the world but a frustrating one to market. The big profits are made by middlemen who buy the raw berries from poor farmers who need cash fast. The middlemen then dry, husk, roast and grind the beans, adding value before selling the coffee to exporters in Kamapala. Every additional step doubles the price.
Our plan is to work with WMI borrowers and their families to grow high quality arabica coffee from the carefully monitored seedlings raised in the tree nursery. The harvests will be audited by our agriculture officer to make sure the berries are of high quality. Women will be taught to dry and hull their own berries. Long range plans are to form a Co-operative of growers who then jointly roast and grind their beans to add the maximum value to their product before selling it.
BCDC inherited a maize mill from a former project (maize is a very low profit crop and grown mostly for family consumption) which it plans to sell or trade or otherwise leverage into a coffee mill that can serve the local farmers.
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Meeting Experienced Long-Time Borrowers
and the Newest Loan Group
The Old Timers
Meeting one of the first loan groups that WMI funded in the Southwestern Hub gave us a chance to see how these experienced rural businesswomen have progressed. The Kisindizi Group started in the WMI loan program in 2011.
Jane Mwaka (left) is the group’s secretary and organized the meeting. She told us that when she first joined the group she did not think it was possible to stand in front of a crowd and give a speech. Now other women approach her for help to start their businesses. She is a successful coffee farmer and with eight children she told us she has plenty of help at home. After the meeting we had time to visit a variety of businesses.
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Lydia is a beekeeper and farmer who prides herself on the pure, natural honey her bees produce. She collects about 20 liters every 6 months from her hives. She also grows coffee, bananas, and vegetables.
The frequent droughts concern her and she is thinking about how to install an irrigation system. She also wants to modernize her hives. With income from her businesses she built her house and has raised two children who are off on their own now. But she told us her husband is very helpful running her farming businesses, particularly selling their coffee harvest.
Enid is also a farmer and focuses on raising cows and specialty crops, like watermelon. She is 41 and has seven children – everyone helps in some way with their farming business. Her husband is extremely supportive and proud of his wife’s accomplishments.
Rosemary is a successful fish farmer. She started with one pond and built a second one not long ago. The fish spawn in the ponds and she feeds the little fingerlings until they are about 3 months old (that job belongs to her children). Then she can harvest the largest ones and sell them for about $8 each. She said it is a very good and reliable business.
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The Newbies
Last year WMI was able to fund the launch of new loan groups in the villages right around our Southwestern Loan Hub offices. The successful businesses of long-time loan program members are well-known in the area and there is a waiting list of women's groups that want to join the WMI ranks.
The ladies in the new loan group were grateful for the opportunity to thank WMI during my visit. They were especially enthusiastic about the business training and rigorous lessons in bookkeeping. The energetic singing, dancing, and drumming contributed to a joyous celebration of their initial steps down the road to financial independence. Ladies talked animatedly about their business plans for raising poultry, vegetable farming, and planting coffee bushes.
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Kyegegwa Sub-Hub
Traveling three hours from our Southwestern Loan Hub Office in Buseesa, we reached the Kyegewa Sub-hub. Completed just last summer, this was our first opportunity to see the Kyegegwa Sub-hub’s new office building in use. It looked very smart and the inside was immaculate.
Under the watchful eye of Chairlady Specioza, the building was constructed in just six months, on land the ladies purchased with their own pooled funds. The building has brought them respect in the community and provides a place where all of the ladies can take part in organized activities.
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The Chairlady and Secretary, Jane (left), thanked WMI for funding a “home of their own.” The loans have had a profound effect on the 300 women in the program and their families. As Specioza explained, there are many “bad schemes” to lend women money – even ones backed by the government where a women’s group is offered $10,000 but by the time the loan passes through many bureaucratic layers and reaches the women’s group, there is only $5,000 in the fund and yet the ladies must repay the entire $10,000.
The Kyegegwa ladies are especially active in community outreach. Their small compound is surrounded by many refugee families who are struggling. During building construction, the group decided to install a community water tap right outside their compound fence so that ladies in the village would not have to walk a long distances to fetch their daily water supply. This has generated considerable good will from local residents.
Several coffee bushes were on the land when they bought it and the ladies are now harvesting the coffee for additional income. Sepcioza (below left) is making plans to plant more saplings and build a small coffee plantation behind the office so that their loan group can generate additonal income.
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Driving long distances, through different landscapes, is one of the mainstays of the annual field visit to WMI's loan hubs.
Leaving Kyegegwa we headed to Sheema, an eight hour drive through Queen Elizabeth National Park, where drivers have to keep a sharp eye out for elephants grazing along the side of the road. Older bulls often forage on their own and seem to be drawn to the asphalt.
All wildlife in Uganda belongs to the government - injuring or killing a wandering beast carries heavy fines and stiff penalties.
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Sheema Sub-Hub
Juliette Ninsiima (left) and Nora Komugishu (right) – the Chairlady and Assistant Chairlady, are the strict organizing force behind the successful Sheema loan group. These ladies live and operate their businesses near the Congo border, where unrest continues to send refugees streaming into Uganda.
As the ladies explained it, the (mostly) women and children fleeing the Congo are welcome in Uganda, even when they navigate through the bush and circumvent official border crossings for fear of being robbed or assaulted as they try to leave their country. They register with the Local Council in the village they enter after crossing the border and begin to put their lives back together in the relative calm and safety of Uganda.
This sub-hub is performing extremely well. Reaching 250 borrowers, the ladies are now looking to rent their own office space. The local hotel owner had been generously providing a banquet room for their meetings out of admiration for their leap into operating small businesses. WMI is funding additional loans in this Sub-hub this year and the ladies, through their own savings, will also contribute funds to add new borrowers.
Kasese Market Vendors Sub-Hub
The town of Kasese boasts a vibrant market that draws rural women from across the area to sell their goods. They rent market stalls and have access to thousands of shoppers who convene on the marketplace twice a week. These rural women have learned the art of selling in a crowded venue. After forming their own association, the ladies contacted WMI and we began a loan program with these dedicated women two years ago – the results have been stellar. This is one of WMI’s fastest growing sub-hubs and the ladies are achieving significant business success. The Local Counselor has watched the group's rapid expansion and at our meeting she gave a speech congratulating the ladies on their business acumen and determination.
The enthusiasm of this highly motivated group of women was infectious. Our meeting was highlighted by singing, dancing, a showcase of business products, a play performed by youth who could not pay school fees before their moms started generating income from their WMI funded businesses, and the presentation of a custom-made dress that fit like a T and was designed and sewn by one of the group’s top tailors.
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Kitchuwamba Sub-Hub
Just five miles from the Kasese Market women is the Kitchumwamba loan group which we started three years ago at the request of another NGO focusing on bio-fuel. These ladies have perhaps the toughest challenge of any of the WMI loan groups in Uganda – they live in a very rural area, many have minimal education, the local farmland is degraded, the region suffers from drought, there are few irrigation systems, and subsistence farming (maize) is prevalent.
They are not all in the same boat – several of the younger women have broken out of the mold and are selling products at the Kasese Market. But transport is a challenge and it is expensive. We are not yet certain the loan program can be effective here. The ladies are repaying their loans, albeit slowly, and the Chairlady is making assessments as to business readiness. More intensive training may be needed. Or it may be that the reluctance to switch from maize farming is too big a hurdle for the WMI loan program to overcome. We shall continue to collect data and information to make an informed decision about future plans.
Nevertheless, the Kitchwamba ladies turned out to talk about their businesses and where their future road might take them. Chairladies Jennifer Muhindo and Hellen Biira (below center) keep the group organized and motivated. The warmth and congeniality of ladies who are carrying a big burden to try to care for their families in very difficult economic circumstances was quietly majestic. Their portraits tell a tale of determination and good-natured humor in the face of hardship.
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LEWA KENYA LOAN HUB TRANSTIONS TO SELF-MANAGEMENT
Exciting changes are afoot at the WMI loan hub in northern Kenya’s Laikepia/Meru Counties, areas known for their lush landscapes abounding in diverse plants and exotic wildlife. This hub, operated in close partnership with Lewa Wildlife Conservancy (LWC), is transitioning to a new phase of woman-led, community leadership.
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WMI began working in this region in 2012 to provide small loans and business training to local village women.
WMI’s initial support came at a time when a prolonged drought inflicted severe hardships on rural women and their families. In the midst of this struggle, WMI trainers traveled from our headquarters in Buyobo, Uganda to Ngarendare and Ntumbri villages to manage the launch of the first two loan groups in Kenya, each with 20 women.
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Several years later, WMI joined forces with the women’s microenterprises program organized by LWC to serve rural women in villages surrounding the Conservancy. A global leader in community conservation and a designated World Heritage Site, LWC prioritizes outreach to the families in villages surrounding its conservancy in order to reduce poaching and encourage livelihoods that are compatible with the country’s thriving wildlife heritage. WMI and LWC’s combined resources allowed the loan program to expand significantly; today, it serves 36 loan groups and reaches 1,800 rural women.
The 36 individual women’s self-help groups have taken their financial responsibilities seriously and the group chairladies have made significant strides in mastering loan operations. They are now ready to form an umbrella organization, termed a Community Based Organization (CBO), that they will staff with their own members. This CBO will be responsible for managing the loan program for all 36 groups and all 1,800 borrowers and will be able to issue larger loans on a variety of terms that best suit a borrower’s business needs.
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To further solidify the transition, WMI’s President, Robyn Nietert, attended a CBO organizational meeting on her visit this January. At the meeting, the loan group chairladies introduced themselves to one another, described their own self-help group’s ongoing activities, and shared future plans.
Many of the self-help groups are dedicated to providing outreach to the poorest families in their local areas. They also organize different income-generating activities among themselves such as bee-keeping, catering, and goat-rearing. At the landmark meeting in early March, the individual self-help group chairladies elected officers for the new CBO from their own ranks.
| | The chairladies come from all different backgrounds and represent all the major local tribes: Maasi, Meru, Samburu, Somali, Turkana, and Borana. Their personalities run the gamut from shy and soft-spoken, to ebullient and demanding. The loan group chairladies Pamela and Carolyn, who were originally trained by WMI’s Buyobo Headquarters team, are very involved in guiding this exciting transition. | | | | |
The chairladies come from all different backgrounds and represent all the major local tribes: Maasi, Meru, Samburu, Somali, Turkana, and Borana. Their personalities run the gamut from shy and soft-spoken, to ebullient and demanding.
The loan group chairladies Pamela and Carolyn, who were originally trained by WMI’s Buyobo Headquarters team, are very involved in guiding this exciting transition.
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LWC staff will continue to provide logistical assistance and monitoring throughout the year to make certain the new CBO is off to a solid start. On her visit, Robyn assured the chairladies that WMI will continue to provide training and loan fund support as they head down this new path to financial independence. The ladies were extremely excited and enthusiastic about continuing to partner with WMI as they enter this new phase.
The chairladies requested a field trip to WMI Headquarters in Buyobo for the new CBO officers to see how WMI’s pioneer loan program staff developed into a financial powerhouse for rural women.
Looking at the photos of the women, you can see the sincerity and commitment, as well as the varied personalities, of the loan group chairwomen as they addressed the organizational CBO meeting. The more reserved leaders were a bit nervous and spoke quickly, while others were confident and took command of the room with their declarations that this was their moment to create a blueprint for their financial destiny.
| | Some of the groups, like the Cape Corner group, (center below) are composed of mothers and daughters who share savings via table banking and generate co-operative income from farming. Younger chairladies were particularly delighted with the opportunity the larger CBO will have to extend loan program benefits to Gen-Z businesswomen who are limited by the weak job market. | | |
Madina Huka is a member of an all Muslim group of women established in 2007. Starting with just 15 members and a small poultry project, they faced the devastating Isiolo famine of 2010 with remarkable perseverance.
To survive, they pioneered their own "table banking" system, contributing 200 shillings a week and circulating the money to those who needed it most. By choosing not to take year-end payouts from their joint savings, they allowed their small loan fund to grow for nearly two decades. Their group will now become a part of the new CBO and their members are looking forward to accessing larger loans.
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Faith Wanjiru, the government’s Community Development Officer (CDO), has been meeting with the loan group chairladies over the past six months to prepare them for the change. She is unwavering in her allegiance to good governance and the guidelines for running a successful CBO, and is committed to instilling these standards for the ladies in the new CBO. The women very much appreciate Ms. Wanjiru’s input and she will continue to offer counsel and advice as the ladies take up managing the loan program.
When the ladies were asked if they were ready to take over the helm of the loan program, all the hands immediately shot up into the air and big smiles filled the room.
| | Robyn and the ladies planted two trees to commemorate the partnership among, LWC, WMI and the growing contingent of rural women who are using the loans and training to improve their lives and their communities. As the meeting concluded, the chairladies shared a meal under the trees before boarding safari buses for a game drive around the Conservancy. For many, it was a novel experience - their first opportunity to view the majestic wildlife that is their heritage. | | |
WMI BORROWER SPOTLIGHT: TURNING MUD INTO MONEY
WMI’s loan hub serving Southwestern Uganda is located in a region where thousands of years of volcanic activity created a foundation of rich soil that can support diverse crops and livestock.
While many villagers grow bogoyas, yams, cassava, and sugar cane on this land, Sarah Tusesiime, a WMI borrower, capitalized on the distinctive mixture of clay and sand beneath her feet and launched her own brick-making business nearly 20 years ago.
Before making bricks, Sarah tried out a few different business ventures but none of her attempts seemed to stick for too long. She wanted to find something to sell that was needed by everyone and somewhat immune to fluctuating consumer demand. One day, Sarah was looking around her property and took note of the swampy landscape. Around the small pools of water, the soil was a deep reddish-brown, indicating a high clay component. Sarah had found her perfect business idea: she would learn to make and sell bricks people could use to build homes.
| | It wasn’t long before Sarah started experimenting with different amounts of clay, sand and water to find the perfect combination to make sturdy bricks. She teamed up with the local carpenter, who provided her with wood molds for pressing the clay. Through many patient attempts at refining her brick-making procedure, Sarah narrowed down the ideal process for producing a high-quality product. | | |
First, debris is extracted from the clay, which is then mixed with water and sand to create a thick paste. The mixture is left to ferment for a few weeks and then pressed into the wooden molds, which are subsequently fired in Sarah’s purpose-built oven. Finally, the bricks are arranged in the sun like tiny toy soldiers to dry.
Sarah sells her bricks to a wide-range of customers who are constructing homes, additions, lock-ups, schools, or commercial buildings. In rural Ugandan villages, it is a significant accomplishment to work your way up from a temporary, mud-slab home, to a stable, permanent, brick home. Sarah’s high-quality bricks fuel this transition.
| | Sarah joined the WMI loan program in 2013 and is still an active WMI borrower, using loans to buy supplies for her thriving business. At 60 years old, Sarah has raised eight children, all of whom were able to graduate secondary school thanks to the income generated from their mother’s business. Two of her children are primary school teachers, an esteemed career choice in Uganda. The rest of her children also have leveraged their education to attain various jobs. Sarah lives with several of her children and grandchildren, and the family works together to maintain the property, cook dinner, and help with the family business. | | |
TANZANIA UPDATE
WMI’s colleagues, Judy Lane and Felicia Smith from Massai Partners, and Rachel Blackmore from WTWT, our British NGO partner, traveled to Tanzania in February to meet with the local leaders of our two loan hubs there and check in with borrowers and their businesses. They reported that the loan program is continuing to provide positive results in terms of improving family household living conditions and health outcomes.
The Maasai women we serve on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater have been extremely diligent in using their loans wisely to start small businesses. Rachel reported, “Our visit this month has been amazing, seeing all the creative ways these women are using their loans to increase their family income. We have seen chicken and egg businesses, fuel, honey, candles, soap, as well as the important local foods needed. We visited all of our loan hubs in the Maasai communities in Ngorongoro and Esilalei. We are so impressed with how well the women have used their loans and the big impact it has had on their lives and their families.
We can see and hear the difference the money is having on the economy in the area. As on previous visits the women have gathered for a ceremony, first to show their huge gratitude for our support and secondly to request us to please continue and increase the loans as so many more women still need them to escape poverty and enable their children to go to school. Although we have given 3,333 loans…, the population in the area we cover is over 120,000 and there is still a lot of need.”
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Our loan hub outside Karatu town in also flourishing. The WMI jumbo loan product (loans of $500-$1500) is allowing more experienced, rural businesswomen here to access the capital they need to take their businesses to the next level.
Judy and Felicia were welcomed by loan hub staff and toured many local businesses. They were impressed with how many rural businesswomen are now operating a variety of thriving businesses in this area.
The next newsletter will have interviews with these ladies!
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