💵 Financial Inclusion

Funding and training for 25 micro-entrepreneurs

Woman in a patterned dress and headwrap sitting with two young children inside a corrugated metal shelter.

Fund capital used

$2,680

In partnership with Munafa, we will provide a group of 25 entrepreneurs in Freetown with loans.

Before receiving funding, the selected group of entrepreneurs will receive six initial training sessions delivered by Munafa. After this, they will receive individual loans based on their business needs and their capacity to repay, without the need for collateral or joint liability.

In addition to the business loans, the entrepreneurs will receive education about savings and help establish a personal saving plan.

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The Story

This project will support a group of 25 entrepreneurs in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Each entrepreneur will be provided with approximately 1mSLL in funding plus training and ongoing support to help them make their businesses profitable, which will be organised and carried out by our partners Munafa Social Microfinance.

Challenge

The population in Sierra Leone is mostly rural (62%) and mostly young (42%). 70% of young people are unemployed or underemployed.

Munafa works in 8 vulnerable communities in Freetown which are among the most deprived slums. These communities face a range of challenges including precarious housing, lack of schools, lack of health services, poor sanitary and waste disposal systems, poor infrastructure and high vulnerability to natural disaster.

To make a living, many people run informal businesses like small grocery shops, workshops, peasant farming or livestock, hawking, cookery, etc. However, they often lack access to affordable funding and training to make their businesses more profitable and to improve their problem-solving and decision-making ability.

Solution

We, in partnership with Munafa, will fund a group of 25 entrepreneurs in Freetown.

Before receiving funding, the selected group of entrepreneurs will receive 6 initial training sessions delivered by Munafa. After this, they will receive individual loans based on their business needs and their capacity to repay, without the need for collateral or joint liability.

In addition to the business loans, the entrepreneurs will receive education about savings and receive help to establish a personal saving plan.

Twice a month, field officers will meet the entrepreneurs in groups. During these bi-weekly meetings, Munafa field officers will manage the loan repayments and savings collection and provide training on economic and social topics to help entrepreneurs strengthen their businesses as well as their families and communities.

Impact

Access to affordable funding and training to make their businesses profitable is a big challenge for entrepreneurs, especially those in vulnerable communities. Munafa’s holistic approach not only equips the entrepreneurs for business success, but also provides a strong foundation for long-term financial inclusion.

Munafa means ‘to prosper’ in local dialects. 89% of the entrepreneurs Munafa supports are women. Our funding will help those women to prosper, and support them in their incredible efforts to make their families and communities prosper as well.

Updates

From the field

Checking on the entrepreneurs in Moa Wharf

Posted 6 Oct 2021

The flooding situation has greatly improved in Moa Wharf. As a consequence, the entrepreneurs in the Tafataneh group are proceeding well with their training and their loans.

Women handling and sorting dried fish in a crowded indoor market stall with colorful plastic bowls and containers nearby. The entrepreneurs have completed training on budgeting and how to set prices. Attendance has remained generally good, but there are some entrepreneurs whose attendance and punctuality has slacked - this might affect the renewal of their loans.

Loan repayment has also remained high, although worsened socio-economic conditions in the wider community and growing inflation is affecting some of the entrepreneurs' businesses. Despite this, two entrepreneurs have already fully repaid their loans. They are now eligible to get a new loan of roughly £160, double the size of their original loan.

Floods are disrupting some of the businesses in Moa Wharf

Posted 17 Aug 2021

The entrepreneurs in Moa Wharf had their most recent training on “husband and wife relationships”. They said it was their favourite training topic so far.

Their businesses, which are mainly around fish drying and selling, are being disrupted by heavy rains and flooding as it becomes significantly more difficult to buy fish at the peak of the rainy season. As soon as the most recent meeting ended, the entrepreneurs rushed to the waterside to restock as a boat had just arrived from sea.

Moa Wharf is in an area that is prone to flooding at this time of year. Despite this, the entrepreneurs are still coping with their loan instalments and have continued depositing savings above the minimum amount of $0.50 a fortnight.

Munafa has carried out a post-disbursement visit

Posted 2 Jul 2021

Munafa has carried out a post-disbursement visit to the entrepreneurs who have taken out loans so far. Visits were conducted by the Branch Manager (Alice) to the Tafataneh group members. Alice carried out checks and could see the goods and inputs procured with the loan and provided business advice to the entrepreneurs. A person speaking to a group of women and children seated inside a rustic wooden building. These bi-weekly visits and additional training will continue to take place. As education is quite low in this community, Munafa encourages entrepreneurs to invest in their children's education. In 2020, 95% of the entrepreneurs Munafa works with had their children aged between 6 and 17 enrolled full-time in education, which is much higher than the average enrollment of around 55%.

This is a good example of how Munafa works holistically with the entrepreneurs, supporting them far beyond achieving business success.

13 more entrepreneurs have taken out loans

Posted 24 Jun 2021

Women conducting paperwork and financial transactions at a red-covered table near a waterfront with cargo ships in the background. 13 more members of Tafataneh group took out a loan last week. The group also had further training on loan management: they went through the different articles of the loan contract and how to read their repayment schedules. Only one person from the group has not taken a loan yet because his attendance does not comply with Munafa's rules to qualify for a loan.

15 entrepreneurs have taken out loans

Posted 15 May 2021

15 entrepreneurs in the Tafataneh group have taken out a loan. The remaining entrepreneurs will be taking out a loan after Thursday this week if their loan forms are approved by Munafa's Credit Committee. The committee meets twice a week to approve loan requests submitted via their field officers.

The entrepreneurs in this group are running businesses around fish drying and selling. A few are selling drinks and condiments.

Munafa will monitor the entrepreneurs’ attendance to trainings at each fortnightly meeting and they will be eligible for further loans based on their attendance. Continuous biweekly trainings allow Munafa to closely follow-up on the entrepreneurs and their businesses. They will also be rolling out further business, social, health, and environmental and gender training for the duration that the entrepreneurs are part of Munafa's program.