Village Enterprise is currently in the disbursement stage of our Innovating for Impact Business Cycle (as seen in the picture below).
This means that Village Enterprise is providing the first cash grant of $100 dollars to each business group. By this point, the business groups, consisting of 3 business owners, have attended business and financial education training sessions on a number of topics, including: Business Group Formation, Basic Savings, Business Savings Groups (BSGs), BSG Constitutions, BSG Record Keeping, Business Basics, Business Planning, Microenterprise Development Tool, Managing a Business, Business Record Keeping, BSG Lending and Loans, Value Addition and Marketing, and Introduction to Conservation.
Each group has submitted a business plan, which must be approved before they can receive a grant. Businesses range from growing Irish potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and groundnuts (peanuts), to buying goats and pigs in order to start piggeries and goat rearing businesses. Today and yesterday, we did training on conservation, coupled with the giving of the grants.
As you can see, our new business owners are about halfway through the cycle of creating their own sustainable business that will last for years to come. For finishing all of these steps of the cycle, the new business owners have received certificates commemorating their accomplishment. Their smiles show their pride.
From here the new business owners will take part in a range of business activities. They will start businesses in all sorts of fields, including agriculture, livestock, skilled labor, and retail businesses. While continued monitoring and training will be carried out by the field staff at Village Enterprise. The new business owners will also continue to meet with their Business Savings Groups to discuss future savings and loans plans and take tally of their accounts.
On behalf of Village Enterprise Hongera (Congratulations) to all the new business owners!
Amalia Frank
Fellow