1,000 Microloans for Rural Women in East Africa

On a Thursday late in January, the women of Buyobo Uganda started preparing food for the annual WMI graduation ceremony. For two days they cooked, and the night before the graduation they took turns sleeping at the office to oversee the final cooking. The day started with a brass band leading the parade of hundreds of borrowers, guests, government officials, and villagers through the town. The ceremony honored all of the women who completed their two years of successfully borrowing and repaying loans from WMI. Guest speakers praised the borrowers on their success as business women and their ability to pay well for two years and transition to commercial bank loans. The entire village, along with guests from WMI’s other program across Uganda and Kenya, came out to enjoy the day. It was full of entertainment; some borrowers performed a drama, the primary school girls completed a cultural dance, and the band impressed the audience with its acrobatic stunts! And of course, to feed all the guests there were 300 pounds of rice and massive quantities of bogoyas (like plantains).

Among the attendees was a WMI program borrower named Beverly from Shikokho, Kenya. Beverly made her first trip across the border into Uganda -- traveling with five other women by bus for six hours. Beverly is a member of the Chanuka Women’s Group WMI loan program and is on her third loan cycle. She is looking forward to graduating next January. She said coming to see the Uganda ladies graduate was an inspiration and made her determined to succeed in the WMI loan program. The Chanuka program will hold its first graduation this summer so she was eager to learn as much as she could.

Beverly, a typical borrower in the WMI loan program, is 35 years old, married, with six children. She has a hair salon. With her first loan she bought supplies -- a hair dryer and hair chemicals -- and was serving women “just around.” With her second loan she moved to the market and rented a stall. She is now getting many customers. Being in a fixed location helps. Her marketing is word of mouth. With her third loan, she has also opened a small side business to sell tomatoes and vegetables to school children (we see this all the time – ladies know to diversify their products).

She said it is not difficult for her to repay her loan. She said there is enough of a market to support businesses in Shikokho, “Those who were idle here – even if they start a small business with a loan they can make money.”

Beverly said the loan group support at the village level is critical for the women, and so is the training, especially when they are first starting out. She praised the WMI loan program: “Our brain is working here and there – we are not just idle.”