Social micro-loans and training for 50 micro-entrepreneurs in Sierra Leone

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Project details

Complete
Area

Business

Region

🇸🇱 Sierra Leone

No. People Impacted

👩🏿‍🦲 50

Additional data

Loans provided

50

Cohorts trained

2

Amount raised for this project

£4,000

Deployed via
Internally raised

£4,000

Externally raised

£0

We've raised the necesary amount to carry out this project. If you'd like to contribute to upcoming projects join our village.
About

After the success of our micro-loan and training project in Freetown, Sierra Leone, this proposal seeks to deploy a further £4,000, which will be used to provide training and circular loans to 50 micro-entrepreneurs in Waterloo, Sierra Leone.

Each entrepreneur will be provided with approximately £80 in funding plus socio-economic training and ongoing support(social counselling and individual follow-up) to help make their businesses profitable, organised and carried out by our partners Munafa Social Microfinance.

A country of small enterprises

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

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

The case for social micro-loans

Typical microfinance aims to help the most disadvantaged entrepreneurs access financial services to develop a revenue-generating business, thereby improving their living conditions.

Unfortunately, this sector is prone to abuse, as lenders seek profitability above positive social impact.

With social micro-loans, entrepreneurs are not only provided with capital but are also supported in their business and day to day lives. Special care is taken to ensure the entrepreneur remains in good standing by adapting the lending and repayment terms to the needs of each entrepreneur, the seasonality of their business and their ability to pay.

Solution

In partnership with Munafa, we will fund two groups comprising of 50 entrepreneurs in Waterloo.

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 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 and their families and communities.

Why we partnered with Munafa

Munafa utilises a well tested social approach to doing business as a microfinance institution. They recognise that the entrepreneurs they lend to may at times lack the knowledge on how to do business properly. In addition, these entrepreneurs usually have social issues that may affect the financial performance of their loans when doing business.

Munafa employs social workers to help entrepreneurs solve social issues. These workers provide ongoing training with partners every two weeks on social topics such as “Preventing marital violence” and economics topics like “How to calculate sales price”.

Munafa provides one of the lowest interest rates to meet the needs of local entrepreneurs, and the entrepreneurs are referred and assisted in accessing loans from more formal SME institutions when loan requests exceed Munafa’s ceiling (approx. £800)

Impact

With a loan of £80 today, the entrepreneurs are assured of getting £800 in 2-3 years if their business is positively impacted and maintains sustained growth.

This business success will increase opportunities for the entrepreneurs, their families, and their local communities. At least 20% of the entrepreneurs will be start-ups.

Updates

From the field

Meet Kadiatu Bangura

Posted by Jermaine

Posted 28 December 2022

Meet Kadiatu, a driven entrepreneur from the Tok and Do group in the Bolima community. Recently, Kadiatu received her second loan, a total of 2,400 SLE (around £105), to support her new business venture: handmade soap called "Africana Soap."

This soap comes in two varieties - one for body washing and one for household chores. Kadiatu's recipe for the household soap is simple yet effective, using only palm oil, caustic soda, and water. She expertly boils the ingredients together, allows the mixture to dry, and then grates it into flakes. Customers can purchase the soap by the cup.

Every morning, Kadiatu rises with the sun to begin making her soap. She then takes her product to the wealthy area of Lumley, where she can sell it at a higher price and earn a better profit. Kadiatu has big plans for her business and is eager to diversify by introducing a line of body-washing soap to attract new customers. With her determination and hard work, Kadiatu is poised for continued success in her entrepreneurial endeavours.

Meet Isatu Kargbo

Posted by Jermaine

Posted 26 September 2022

Isatu Kargbo is a young, energetic entrepreneur and recipient of one of the loans deployed under this project.

In 2018, she started working with another community member who offered to teach her the traditional techniques of Gara tie-dying. She worked as an apprentice for one year and then decided to start her own business.

The business loan helped her renew her equipment and buy bed sheets in bulk.

Isatu is ambitious and wishes to extend her activity by diversifying and increasing her production. She plans to build a team to help her sell around Sierra Leone and its provinces.

A field visit to Alfina Sankoh

Posted by Jermaine

Posted 29 August 2022

As mentioned in the last update. Alfina, a member of the Tok En Do cohort of entrepreneurs, applied for a second loan after successfully paying off her first loan.

A couple of days after disbursement, field officers will visit the loanee to crosscheck the entrepreneur is executing the plan declared in the loan application.

Alfina's business is growing from strength to strength. This update includes images of Alfina preparing her speciality: dried mussels mixed with local spices and raw vegetables and served with bread.

Meet Alfina Sankoh

Posted by Jermaine

Posted 25 July 2022

Here is Alfina Sankoh, a young entrepreneur from Sierra Leone and a member of the 'Tok en Do' cohort.

Alfina is the first member of the group to repay her loan in full and is now in the process of applying for her second loan.

I've attached a document which provides more details on the loan application process.

Second report from Waterloo, Sierra Leone.

Posted by Jermaine

Posted 4 July 2022

It's month two of training, and we've received a second field report from the trainees in Waterloo.

We've disbursed 51 loans, and the entrepreneurs have managed to recoup 10% in savings thus far—a great outcome.

You'll find the second report attached as a PDF file.

A first report from Waterloo, Sierra Leone.

Posted by Jermaine

Posted 23 May 2022

Hey, all.

We've just received a first report from our micro-loan work in Sierra Leone. I'll let you dig into the attached mini-report, but to summarise ...

We've managed to disburse 36 out of 54 loans to entrepreneurs in two cohorts so far. The business activities of the entrepreneurs generally fall into free categories: Gara tie-dying, Cooking, and market trade.

Both cohorts completed the 6 Initial training sessions and are carrying on with the other nine modules to complete the integration training plan, a mix of essential economic and social topics.

All the entrepreneurs were given their personal Savings passbooks and started saving a minimum of 6,000Le every two weeks.

Funds are in Sierra Leone, and training and lending has begun.

Posted by Jermaine

Posted 11 May 2022

The £4,000 has safely reached Alfred (programme manager) in Sierra Leone, and two cohorts of entrepreneurs have now received their initial loans and have begun their first training session.

The two cohorts are named 'Tok en Du' and 'Work as One'. We'll be closely tracking their progress, and I'll share further updates as they come.

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