I met Abla (who is also known as Chantelle) in April 2013. She makes fruit juice and ice cubes which she sells in little plastic bags which people snip the corners off to drink. The ingredients she uses are lemons, oranges and soya beans plus sugar. Sugar is the most expensive ingredient.The family home is in a compound behind the fruit juice stall. “It seems like a simple business but it is expensive - electricity, fruit, sugar, bags, fridges, which sometimes breaks down. The business is successful when it is sunny but in the rainy season it is not so good so I have to save money when business is good so I can pay back the loan in the difficult months. You always need money to do business and it is impossible for a woman like me to get a loan from a bank so I am thankful that an MFI like WAGES is there for me”.
Chantelle told me that all her family can eat three meals a day now due to her business. She would like to save enough to buy a plot of land and build a house of her own in the future.