Chishimba 1216

The women in Chishimba 1216 group are found in the northern province of Zambia and they are between twenty-six and fifty years. The ladies would like to ask for your monetary assistance so that they can buy inputs for their businesses like cash boxes to secure their daily earnings. The women are either married or single but all of them get help from their families and friends to ensure that their businesses stay running when they are away running errands on the weekends.

The women support a total of twenty-eight children that are in school on a full time basis, despite this fact, the women are working very hard to keep their businesses afloat because they know that their children are their top priority. The businesses that the women run include butcheries, market stalls as well as farming projects, this is because these ones are easy for the women to run as some of them have small children. The businesses have been running for the past two years and have even employed other women like themselves so that they too can achieve economic independence.

Petronella, forty-five years of age, is the enterprising woman that is seen in her butchery selling fish in the main market, she is a proud mother of six children that are in schools that help them learn to speak English as well as write it. Her husband is a nurse at a local clinic and helps keep their happy family healthy should they fall ill. He is also available to help his wife get fish from the local fisheries when she runs out, at this point in time, she wants to buy some beef with her share of this loan so that she can grow her profits. Her children hope to go to university one day and are helping their mother attend to her customers when they finish school. The business has been running for the past two years and has provided the children with some money for school tuition and clean water to drink.

The Microloan Foundation in Zambia lend to female entrepreneurs using the ‘centre’ model. A centre is typically made up of 3-4 sub-groups and these sub-groups almost always have five members. Each centre has its own name and the sub-groups within the centre share the same name. Each person within the group of five women is responsible for repaying her loan but the members support each other and if a member is unable to repay her loan on time, then the group assumes responsibility for repayment. Loan officers provide training to the groups, although it is expected that centre leaders will eventually assume responsibility for providing some of the basic training.

If you are lending, please be aware that due to the current COVID-19 pandemic your repayments could be at greater risk of delay or default.