Khothi 1 Group

The Khothi 1 Group from Ntcheu is made up of five married women who run small businesses such as selling fish, vegetables, groceries, clothes, and operating small restaurants. Together they support seventeen children, including one orphan. Working cooperatively helps to strengthen their businesses and improve their families’ livelihoods. Their shared loan will help each member grow her business and increase her income.

Ruth is 37 years old, married, and a mother of two children. She has been farming tomatoes for five years as a way to earn an income and support her family.

With her share of the loan, Ruth plans to buy farm inputs such as fertiliser, seed, and pesticides, which will help her improve production and increase her harvest. This will allow her to generate more income and better support her household.

Ruth hopes that, as her farming business grows, she will be able to educate her children and buy more farmland. Her progress contributes to the shared success of the Khothi 1 group, whose members support one another as they work toward a more secure future.

The Microloan Foundation, Lendwithcare's local partner in Malawi employs a unique 'centre' model for lending to female entrepreneurs. A centre comprises several sub-groups which share the same name as the centre. As such, you may have seen similarly named group loans from Malawi all belonging to the same centre. In this system, each woman is individually responsible for repaying her loan, but the group offers mutual support by assuming overall responsibility together.