Chilima Mgwirizano Mayi Wala Group

The Chilima Mgwirizano Mayi Walas are a group of 20 women located in Malawi’s Central Region. The women are typically engaged in activities such as running butcheries and market stalls selling items such as sugar cane and vegetables. Manness, aged 39, is a member of the group, and she sells tomatoes and other produce to make a living.

Female entrepreneurs like Manness face many barriers to making significant profit and scaling their businesses due to lack of training, new business opportunities or access to affordable financing solutions. This loan will change that.

This group of women are part of a large solar lighting project being implemented by Lendwithcare partner, SolarAid. The aim of the project is to bring clean and affordable light to every household in some of the most remote parts of rural Malawi. The project in total hopes to reach 10,000 households in 20 locations and install Solar Light Systems that will provide a rural family with most of their lighting needs.

Just one solar light has a transformational impact on the life of a family:

- Over the lifetime of a solar light, a family can save $545 of their income from no longer having to buy dangerous candles or kerosene lamps. Instead, savings are spent on food, school fees and improving livelihoods.

- 97% of solar light users feel safer at night due to no longer risking open flames and increased security from solar lights.

- 33% increase of children doing their homework after dark

By using groups of local women, the project is not only providing alternative income-generating activities for these women but it also creates a network of local solar agents who are best placed to reach rural communities and households. This group of women will be supported by local partners, SunnyMoney and FEBCO, to identify households in need of lighting solutions, help the women sell their products and support the family with installation and maintenance.

This loan will enable the women to purchase 500 Solar Light Systems that they will sell to households in their community on a pay as you go scheme, which means the households will be able to pay for their light systems in instalments rather than in one lump sum making them much more affordable and accessible for the community.

The Solar Light Systems consist of:

- Three bright and efficient lamps, each operating at 200 lm per watt.

- Three brightness levels to cater to varying lighting needs.

- One robust and long-lasting solar panel

- One smartphone charger holder

- One wireless wall-mount light switch

- One wall-mount battery hub with practical display and keypad

- And extras to help households expand and customise their systems by adding additional batteries, panels, lamps, and other components.

The group will sell each Solar Home System for approximately $53.46, giving the group a profit of approximately$15.94 (per light). The aim is to invest these profits back into the business to help the group establish sustainable energy businesses in their local communities.

The loan will be repaid in 24 months once the Solar Home Systems have been installed. This loan from Lendwithcare will be used to purchase the necessary solar stock and the aim is for the home installations to take place in February 2024. Once the systems have been installed, the groups will have two months to set-up the payment schemes with their customers and start collecting repayments before they start making repayments on their loans to Lendwithcare. Therefore the first repayments on these loans are not expected until April 2024.