In order to address these inequities in conjunction with general program implementation, Village Enterprise participants are encouraged to bring their partners or spouses to the nine-module business training. Encouraging men to support their partners’ businesses improves household power dynamics while equalizing economic and care responsibilities in the family setting. 

To understand the impact our program can have when male spouses are involved, we interviewed Michael Erimu. Michael is not a Village Enterprise entrepreneur. He is, however, married to Grace Atim, a Village Enterprise retail clothing entrepreneur. The couple has seven children, and one of them is battling a life-threatening disease that weighs heavily on the family’s financial and emotional well-being. 

Michael is a shining example of how the intentional presence of a father and spouse can change lives. And with that, we wish all fathers globally a very happy fathers day! 

Michael tells his story below: 

Before my wife, Grace, joined Village Enterprise, I worked as a secondary school teacher. My job allowed me to support my family financially but required that I spend most of my time away from home. So while Grace cared for our children and watched over our home, I sent everything I had back to support them. However, everything changed when two of our children were diagnosed with life-threatening diseases. Although there are treatments available to manage the symptoms, they are either temporary, expensive, or both.

Caring for a loved one suffering from a chronic disease can take its toll on a family, and after a while, Grace could no longer care for our children alone. Most employers are empathetic, but because helping her meant that I often missed work, I eventually quit the teaching profession. Although we now had the time to care for our children, we were struggling to provide basic necessities for them in addition to the medical treatments required for our son. Furthermore, without stable jobs, we did not have access to growth capital, nor did we have a safe place to save money and borrow from in times of medical emergencies. Things were hard for my family for a long time, but in 2020, with Grace pregnant again, a Village Enterprise business mentor visited my wife and me, and everything changed.

The business mentor told us about the Village Enterprise poverty graduation program, which supports three entrepreneurs with different but complementary skills to form one business. He thought that Grace would be a perfect candidate for the program and that Village Enterprise would provide the seed capital to start her business after she completed training sessions. The business mentor assured us that consistent mentorship is part of the program. He also shared that the entrepreneurs would form business savings groups consisting of 30 entrepreneurs (10 business groups) per group. 

I wanted to learn how best to support my wife throughout this program, so I decided to attend all nine training modules with her. Through the training sessions, Grace learned how to turn her skill as a retail clothing hawker into a structured and profitable business.

After business training concluded in March, Grace started her new business – a retail thrift clothing store. She needed to transport heavy sacks of clothes from the wholesalers’ location to our compound, where she set up the selling space. She was heavily pregnant, so I took charge of lifting heavy sacks. We got into a daily routine, and before Grace would leave for the market, we would sit together as a family to plan her movements. We would decide how much to spend and how to split our parenting roles. I help her keep business records and sometimes make sales for her, and we have grown much closer. I represent her whenever she cannot attend business savings group meetings—just as her business mentor advised—and together, we decide how much to set aside for savings each week. 

Before Grace joined the Village Enterprise program, we were gambling and living month to month, hoping to generate enough money to support our children. Still, today, we think in terms of profits, expenditure, and future investment. So we save diligently and set money aside for emergency funds. 

I watched with pride as my wife bought two pigs, three goats, new plates, and new mattresses with profits from her business. These changes have been gradual yet incredibly fulfilling for our home life. I am grateful that I no longer have to travel far to support our children financially and can be fully present in their lives. Grace’s Village Enterprise business, which started as profit generation for her and her two friends, has evolved into a family business. My wife is the most hardworking woman I know, and I am so happy to support her.

The post A Ugandan Father Intentionally Breaking the Mold appeared first on Village Enterprise.

Elizabeth Auma lives in Migori County and is the chairperson of the Nyang’au Village Enterprise business savings group. Each of our savings groups consists of 30 new entrepreneurs who meet weekly to save money together and serve as a vital network for support and encouragement. Living with HIV, Elizabeth personally relates to the challenges the virus brings. Instead of losing hope, she rose to a leadership role, and her group became a symbol of resilience. 

This is the Nyang’au business savings group’s story, as shared by Elizabeth.

+++

HIV is a lonely disease. Nobody wants to be associated with someone from the HIV/AIDs community, nor do they expect us to survive from this virus. Most people don’t understand how important food is when you depend on manual labor to provide for your family, and it is even more critical when taking medicine for HIV. 

The only organizations that targeted individuals living with HIV were health support groups or government programs. Their focus was solely on community access to antiretroviral drugs yet disregarding the importance of sustainable solutions that further empower HIV-positive groups. In particular, many of these organizations fail to look at how lack of food, a byproduct of living in poverty, increases severe antiretroviral medication side effects. It was only when we were introduced to Village Enterprise that we saw an organization that looked beyond survival, focusing on long-term quality of life for HIV-positive individuals and their families.

I joined the Village Enterprise program in January 2018. We were trained on nine modules covering topics such as saving with a purpose, financial literacy, business diversification, among others. During training, the business mentors emphasized that each business should consist of three people to minimize risk. We were encouraged to pick co-business owners whose skill sets would add the most value to our enterprises. For example, I am a natural leader, so I took on the role of chairperson, whereas one of my co-business owners is exceptional with numbers, so she keeps track of our business finances. We were then grouped with ten other business groups to form a business savings group that serves as a space for support, encouragement, and informal banking.

In February 2018, I joined the Nyang’au business savings group along with 29 first-time entrepreneurs. In the beginning, we started by saving only a few hundred shillings each week. As time went on, each enterprise became more profitable, enabling us to contribute increased savings to our savings group cash reserve. Although we ‘graduated’ from the Village Enterprise program in 2019, our group continues to thrive. By the end of January 2021, our cumulative savings plus interest totaled 410,000 shillings (USD 3,600).

Today, our group is highly respected. Known for our disciplined method of savings and loan assistance, other community members notice our success and ask for our advice. Even Village Enterprise business mentors have commended our success, frequently calling on our group to attend training sessions for newly formed business savings groups in our county to share lessons on best practices.

From my business profits, I was able to buy a female sheep —a sign of wealth in our community that typically only men can afford. I never thought I would be able to provide for my family, let alone own livestock. Owning livestock is an investment in the future, as sheep usually give birth twice per year. Just that one sheep changed my family’s life. Whenever there is an emergency in my family, I know that I can financially address the situation by selling one lamb. I feel calm knowing that none of my children will lack clothes or school fees.

I am proud to belong to the Nyang’au business savings group. We have demonstrated that living with HIV is not a death sentence and that you can start a successful business despite living with an HIV-positive diagnosis. Without this group, we would not have this much community respect, dream this big, nor could we provide so many things for our families.

Elizabeth’s story was initially told in the language of Luo. We have translated the story into English with minor grammatical edits.

Donate to our International Women’s Day campaign to support more women like Elizabeth!

The post Increased Savings, Sustainable Businesses —Four Years After Exiting Village Enterprise appeared first on Village Enterprise.

Like many other single mothers in rural Kenya, Lucy faced the daunting task of fending for herself and her two young children while unemployed and living in extreme poverty. As a result, she struggled to find food, medicine, and other basic necessities critical for the health, well-being, and survival of her family.

The mortality rate for children under five in Kenya stands at 43.2 children per 1,000 live births. Additionally, one out of three children under the age of five is physically stunted, a sign of chronic malnutrition. Socio-economic status is a crucial determinant of survival; children in the lowest wealth quintile are 44% more likely to die before the age of five than those in the highest quintile.

More than four million women in Kenya live in extreme poverty—nearly 8% of the country’s population. Lucy represents the one in three women aged 18 to 60 in Sub-Saharan Africa who are single mothers.

This is her story.

+++

My name is Lucy Musimbi.

Before Village Enterprise came to my village in Ndalu, I was pregnant and living a life without hope. Every day was a struggle. I had no means of income after my husband abandoned me during my pregnancy. When it was time for delivery, I sent word to him, hoping that he would be touched to change. But when he saw that I was having twins, he told me that all I know is how to give birth but not how to pay school fees. He left, and I never saw or heard him again.

Life became so hard. My neighbor was a big help as she let me leave the babies with her while I set out early in the day looking for work. I worked as a farmhand and sometimes washed people’s clothes, but it was never enough. Food was the biggest challenge – even as I breastfed, sometimes all I had to eat for days was boiled water without sugar.

Village Enterprise picked me up from the garbage. When I joined the program, I felt like I witnessed a miracle. Not only were they teaching us how to use our talents for business, but they were also giving us the money to start, and it was not a loan we had to pay back. I did not believe that my simple skill of sewing and making beads would change my life and the lives of my children forever, but it did.

Through the training, I was able to teach other women how to do bead-making. I learned about saving with a purpose. It is from those savings that I bought chairs and cooking utensils for my house, items I never previously owned. Through the program and my business, my babies are healthy and eating. I no longer stay up at night wondering how I will pay for their school fees.

Village Enterprise did not just save me, they also saved my children and gave them a chance for a better future. I am forever grateful to them.

The post A Future for the Next Generation appeared first on Village Enterprise.