Gender Equality Togo Project #30378

Help Women Work their Way Out of Poverty in Togo

by ACTION10

Help Women Work their Way Out of Poverty in Togo

Summary

Together we can empower individuals in Africa who are interested in creating small businesses. This will give them the opportunity to get out of poverty and help in the development of their community through boosting economic development. We will provide small loans for business investments as well as training and coaching to entrepreneurs in the rural areas of the Maritime Region in Togo. In February 2021, we reached our initial funding goal of USD 10,000 and we have now raised the target.

$20,000
total goal

$2,677
remaining

107
donors

1
monthly donor

1
fundraiser

6
years

Challenge

Below the poverty line youth and especially women struggle to survive and support their families. Employment opportunities are almost nonexistent and it is crucial to creating new businesses in order to boost the economy. But the locals lack the knowledge and resources to create and run a business in order to become self-sufficient and also provide opportunities for the community. They need findings, training, and support to implement their ideas into real business.

Solution

We have a unique platform for providing the needed funding in Togo. We start with providing loans to local entrepreneurs and constant support to all them through business coaching and training. The formal guarantee for the loan is replaced by a social solidarity structure. Entrepreneurs offered the loans will form cooperatives of approximately five members where the independently run their businesses, but the paying back is collective. Every entrepreneur pays back with an interest rate of 10%.

Long-Term Impact

This will improve vulnerable people's skills, more specifically women's skills, in running their own businesses. Their businesses will address the everyday needs in the rural areas which will transform the lives of the whole community by providing products and services that have never existed in these areas. Also. it will increase the employment rate of youth and women, contributing not only on economic growth and a better life but also on the social development of the whole community.