By Mary Foy; Benjamin Kusi | Marketing & Development Director
Young Mother Grateful for a Micro Credit “Legacy.”
Afia, a 22 year-old, single mother, did not know how she was going to support herself and her new “bouncy” baby girl. She was forced to leave a seamstress apprenticeship in the nearby town of Kumasi when she discovered she was pregnant.
After moving back home with her mother to Kyereyaase, a farming community in Ghana, Afia became discouraged with the lack of opportunities. “I became frustrated and confused as a single parent with virtually no support from anyone,” she says.
Help came from a knowledgeable and familiar source. Afia’s mother, a successful micro credit beneficiary herself, suggested Afia attend a Self Help sponsored training workshop designed to teach Kyereyaase women how to diversify their businesses. The training focused on how to make pastries, meat pie, doughnuts and plantain chips.
Shortly after the training, Afia’s mother decided to give her daughter start-up money with profits from her successful business funded by Self Help. With GH50 ($33), Afia was able to begin preparing and selling pastries in her community. Ten days after starting her business she was able to buy a frying pan and coal pot.
Today Afia spends about $13 a day and receives between $17 and $20 a day, more than a 30% profit! “Today I am thankful to God and Self-Help for the opportunity given me to enable me to help myself,” says Afia
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