Change a Girl's Life Through Microentrepreneurship

Solange is an internally displaced person from Njinikom residing in Tole, a community in the South West Region of Cameroon. She is a mother of two and a beneficiary of our ongoing livelihood project.

Before the crisis, Solange operated a small provision store. After being displaced, she lost her source of livelihood and was unable to take care of her children. She could barely afford for her basic needs and had to send her children to live with their father while she resorted to doing odd jobs to survive.

Solange was identified by our social worker during a door-to-door identification process. She was trained on entrepreneurship and business management, savings, book keeping, and Sexual Reproductive Health. After gaining this knowledge and receiving her first level grant, she started retailing tomatoes and pepper while selling in a wheel barrow in OIC market.

As her business grew, Solange became a big supplier of pepper and tomatoes as she goes to bush markets and buys pepper and tomatoes in baskets to supply to other petit traders while retailing some in the market.

In the course of doing this business, she faced some challenges as she incurred losses worth  $312 (156000CFA frs)  when she bought 7 bags of pepper and upon arriving the market pepper prices had dropped. Her pepper got rotten as she was trying to retail and gave out some bags for less than her buying price.

After facing this challenge, she didn’t give up as the project team kept on coaching her. Thanks to her savings of $280 (140000 FRS) she was able to stand back on her feet.

Today, Solange can boast of 3 square meals a day, a bed and a thick mattrass, a gas plate, a musical set, her basic needs and that of her children. She has brought her children from the village to live with her and she is ready to send them to school for the 2023-2024 academic year. She now has an average monthly income of $260 (130.000FRS) and an average monthly profit of $60 (30.000FRS).

Solange is aspiring to go into fashion wear business aside her tomatoes and pepper business. She is currently looking for someone to employ to take care of the fashion store while she continues with the pepper and tomatoes. 

“I really do appreciate Reach Out NGO and her partners for what they have done for me. I had nothing when I came to Buea. At times I will beg to eat but see where I am today, I can feed well, pay my rent and I buy my food stuff in bulk. The health support and monthly support package was something else, I couldn’t believe someone will just sit and pay hospital bills or send me Monthly allowance. May God continue to bless Reach out for me.’’

Solange is just one of the hundreds of women and girls whose lives have been changed through micro business with your support. Thank you so much.