Business Feature : Village loan scheme changes illiterate’s life

BY WATIPASO MZUNGU JNR

              Waile outside the grocery:  Today, she can afford a smile

Bertha Waile, 25, does not remember its name, but this money-lending institution has its offices at Luchenza Trading Centre in Thyolo.

Waile cannot remember either when exactly it was, but this unknown organization visited and offered trainings in business management to women from Mikate Village in the area of Traditional Kapichi in the district.

It also provided loans to the trainees. She was among them and it is for this reason that  Maranatha Mzungu is writing about her today.

Waile is illiterate. She was expelled from school because of early pregnancy. She does not remember the year, but the reporter’s calculations show that she was 15 when Christopher Waile, 28, belaboured her thereby forcing her out of education.

“I fell in deep love with my boyfriend, Christopher, who ended up impregnating me. I was very young then,” she said.

Continued Waile, “But the goodness is that he accepted responsibility [for the pregnancy]. And we immediately married. This is how I dropped out of school.”

Waile confessed it was tough for the then teenagers to provide for themselves. This is typical of most teens found in unplanned marriages.

Most of the adolescents who decide to have an early marriage do so because they are faced with an unplanned pregnancy and they feel that they need to bear the responsibility of the child, even though they are not settled in their own lives.

In most cases, teen parents are not educated and immature to carry financial responsibilities let alone shoulder a family or parenthood.

Some of the challenges that teenage couples may have to face include inability to provide for themselves and coping with public shame as some people turn to look at them as irresponsible and ill-mannered.

The Wailes were not immune from this situation. The two did not receive support from parents when they married. Not that their parents abandoned them, but because they both come from poor families.

“I had no choice, but scramble for any job available at that time. I had to work to sustain my family,” said Christopher.

“That’s how I ended up into guarding profession although I was too young for the job. I worked as a guard for five years at a tea estate,” he added.

But the coming of this unknown money-lending institution opened a new chapter for the teen family. After graduating in business management, the micro financial organization loaned Bertha an amount of K10,000 for her to venture into any business of her choice.

She chose to open a grocery shop because there was none in the village at the time. Mikate is situated more than 30 km away from Luchenza.

But people from this village had to cycle to the trading centre if they wanted to buy their basic necessities such as soap and salt. Hence the opening of Waile Grocery in the village eased the problem among the residents.

“We’re told to repay the loan within six months with a profit of K2,400. But because I was the only one trading in groceries in the village, I managed to realize big profits within a short period of time. This helped me pay back the loans without difficulties,” explained Waile charmingly.

After repaying, the beneficiaries were given another chance to borrow more than the initial figure, but not more than K15,000. Waile settled for K15,000.

All this time, the husband was still working for the tea estate. But after borrowing for the second and third times, it became apparent to her that she needed a hand in running her business.

“I requested my husband to resign his job and help me. When he resigned, we charted the way forward on how to boost our business.

“We made new investments like piggery, construction of a family house and expansion of our grocery business,” she stated.

The third chance to borrow arose in 2008. She got K20.000 and both businesses [piggery and grocery] continued to grow.

Christopher said he found it necessary to partner with his wife because what he used to receive from his employer was far below the profits they are realizing in a week.

“I was getting K135 per day. This is very little compared to what we’re making with my wife,” he said.

International Committee for the Development of People (CISP) HIV/Aids and Income Generating Activity (IGA) expert Yusuf Kadwala believes a woman’s entry into businesses and labour market cannot only create the conditions necessary for women to achieve economic independence, but also help in strengthening their families’ economic standing.

Kadwala says there is need for more women to form Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) which he thinks would play a crucial role in empowering women in micro-financing activities and thereby reduce vulnerabilities and expand economic viable ventures in rural areas through improved financial services.

“In some places, VSLAs have been the best vehicles for transforming the socioeconomic development of people, especially women in the rural settings. Thus if such initiatives are localized everywhere, more and more women will attain economic independence and break the cycle of dependence and vulnerabilities,” said Kadwala in an interview.

Group Village Headman Mikate expressed happiness with the progress women have made since they started borrowing from the financial institution.

“This initiative is very good as it empowers rural people, especially women to actively take part in socioeconomic activities. It’s more empowering to teen marriages, divorced women and widows,” said Mikate.

Although during the last decades microfinance institutions have increased access to financial services for many, provision of access in rural areas remains a major challenge.

Traditional community methods of saving such as rotating savings and credit associations (ROCAs or Chipereganyo as they are popularly known in local cricles] and Village Savings and Loan Associations [VSLA], therefore, provide an opportunity to save or provide a means for borrowing.

The disadvantage, however, is that the means do not allow savers to earn interest on their deposits as a formal account would.

Waile is wary, though, that she does not have enough for expansion of her businesses.

But Member of Parliament for the area, Kingsley Namakhwa, assures the entrepreneur that the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) will solve the problem.

“The mini market we are constructing in Mikate Village will act as a window for rural entrepreneurs. We want as many women entrepreneurs as possible to benefit from these structures,” said Namakhwa.

On Monday last week, the legislator handed over 48 iron sheets for roofing the mini market.

END