Empower 600 Women in Ghana with Microcredit Loans

45-year-old Saudatu is a mother of six from Beposo, a small community in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. She is a business owner and a farmer, and she owns both a cocoa farm and a cattle herd. In 2010, she was introduced to Self-Help International’s micro-credit program by some of her friends in Beposo. Prior to joining the program, she was a shop owner and was doing well.

‘’My friends practically forced me to join the program,” Saudatu said. “My business was doing well before I joined, and they convinced me to attend the micro-credit meetings not for the money but for the training Self-Help provided.”  

“The first training I attended was about savings. I was impressed, but I didn’t pay the training any mind until I started losing everything due to mismanagement,” Saudatu said.

Life became difficult for Saudatu and her family as her debtors started chasing her for money.

“Some of the items in my shop were on credit which I settled after selling, and since I couldn’t settle on time, creditors stopped supplying and demanded their unpaid monies,” Saudatu explained.

Saudatu remembered the training from Self-Help and reached back out to the staff for support. 

“I gathered myself together and approached Self-Help for support. This time, I was eager to go through all of the different business lessons Self-Help provided before I accessed my first loan of GhC 100,” Saudatu said.

 “I started out carrying the few items I could [from] house to house and community to community,” Saudatu continued. “I also improved my savings habit and attempted keeping records of my sales and my profits. It took me more than a year to start selling in my shop again”

As of June 2021, Saudatu’s situation has greatly improved thanks to her attendance at Self-Help’s business development training sessions.

“I always wanted to send my children, especially the girls, to school. When I ran into those problems with the debtors, I thought it was over,” Saudatu said. “But, thanks to Self-Help, one of my girls just completed nursing school and two others have also completed Senior High School and are awaiting their results.”

“I have been raising cattle for some time now, and I have started selling some in preparation towards the girls’ college education,” Saudatu said. “ I  also started a cocoa farm that has started producing pods. The list is never ending and as you can see now, my shop is full again!”

There are other women like Saudatu who are in need of guidance on how to manage and sustain their businesses, to venture into new markets, and to manage their loans and save effectively. We are grateful for your continuous support of our programs and activities. Let’s continue to alleviate hunger by helping people help themselves!

Gladys is a 34-year-old mother of four from Abompe, Ghana, a small community outside of the city of Kumasi where Self-Help International headquarters is located. She has been with the Micro-credit Program for less than two years - she joined the program in October 2019 when Self-Help’s micro-credit team was restarting the program in Abompe. 

Prior to joining the program, Gladys relied primarily on subsistence farming.

“I could barely produce enough food for my family’s consumption. Even though I was farming for the family, it wasn’t appreciated much because I could not financially contribute to the family’s income,” Gladys said. “Life was so difficult for me as a woman. I couldn’t afford anything for myself, even basic necessities.” 

When the women in Abompe were forming their lending groups, nobody wanted Gladys in their group because they did not see her as credit worthy and able to pay back loans. But the Self-Help’s team took a leap of faith on Gladys because they believed in her potential. 

“When I received my first money of GHC 200 (around $50 USD), I had still not settled on where to invest. I didn’t know how to begin; but because of the training Self-Help provided, I started looking around my community for a sought-after service that nobody was providing,” Gladys said.

“Because I wanted to start a new business and my financial capital was limited, I needed something that wasn’t capital intensive. I eventually settled on selling locally manufactured alcoholic beverages, and business was very good,” Gladys said.

In time, everybody was impressed with Gladys’ loan repayment. 

“When I started my business, the first thing I bought was a “susu adaka” (savings container). I saved a portion of my profit each day in it, so that by the end of the month, I had enough to pay back my loan,” Gladys said.

“ Things started improving in my life. I could afford the basic necessities now. I could also support my family’s budget and the kids’ school expenses,” Gladys said. “My husband started showing me more respect and my opinion started counting in the house - that was very surprising and unusual.”

When Gladys’ loan amount was upgraded and she started receiving GHC 1000 (approx 180 USD), she had other plans in mind. 

“Drinking alcohol makes people hungry, and I realized most of my customers would buy my drinks and go to a different place looking for food to buy. When my loan increased, I decided to start selling food and it was going so well,” Gladys said. 

“When I compare my life then and to my life now in 2021, it leaves me crying uncontrollably. I know if I had met Self-Help’s team earlier, my life would have been better than it is now - but as the saying goes, ‘It’s better late than never.’“

Gladys is an example of the strong, entrepreneurial women with which Self-Help’s Micro-Credit Program partners. These are women who want an opportunity to make a living for themselves and their families and who are willing to prove a point to themselves and their community and to all the people that doubted their ability to change their lives for the better.