1,000 Microloans for Rural Women in East Africa

Dear Program Supporter,

It has been 6 months since we opened our newest loan hub in Sheema District in the far western part of Uganda. The first 40 members received their first loans in April 2023 after completing our business training program. Last month we went back to check how the women were progressing.

Tusabe, our regional program manager, reported that “it was quite an exciting experience finding all the women so hardworking with progressing businesses. They extend a lot of gratitude to WMI for introducing such a nice program to their community.”

We visited some members homes and businesses. The majority have promising businesses. We saw women with tailoring shops, raising pigs and selling firewood. There was a lot to learn sharing with these hard working women. According to the findings the majority have been loyal to their monthly payments and have promised to pay with ease because their businesses have really changed after acquiring business skills during the training.

One of the stories came from Angella, one of the excited borrowers. She received 300,000 UGX (about $80), which she used in her coffee business. Within four months she bought 4 adult goats and pigs out of the coffee profits. The majority women hail the program for being less bureaucratic than other financial institutions, with low interest, no security required and so on. The training and peer support they receive is also instrumental in their businesses’ success. They say this Program has brought a big hope to their community.

This is such exciting news for the WMI Board back in the United States. Although we do our due diligence to ensure the program will be successful, we are happy to hear the results! The need for loans is still high in the area. There are many women who are interested in joining the program having seen the impact it has caused with the current members. In 2024 we hope to be able to expand the program to another 2-4 groups of 20 women each. We will also give the first cohort of borrowers larger loans so that they might expand their businesses further. These are troubled times; WMI appreciates your continued support of these important projects.

Thank you!