Elise has been a hairdresser for eleven years and she has eleven apprentices. She used her loan to buy hair lotions, colourants, hair pieces and cosmetics. She travels to the capital, Lome, to buy these at a better price than she could locally. Her salon is very popular, especially around festival times such as Easter, Christmas etc. African women are very conscious of their hair and they use hair styles to show their status in the same way we might with a nice car or home. Her profit can range $45 in a quiet month to $400 in a busy period like the run up to Christmas. When I visited her a couple of weeks ago, I asked about the biggest challenge Elise faces and she told me it was training new apprentices which took 2-3 years. Elise is married with one daughter who is in school. Tracey Horner, March 2012.