Figure 1: Khadija Ali, in her new shop in Belet Hawa town, Gedo Region, Somalia.
Khadija Ali, aged 49 is a single mother of 10 who lives In Belet Hawa town, Gedo region, Somalia.
She is a member of Tawakal VSLA group in Belet Hawa where members get the privilege of taking a loan from the District Bank committee under strict terms and conditions. Khadija who used to sell tea before, borrowed $500 from the revolving fund and used it to expand her business by starting to sell clothes too.
“Life was difficult before as my business did not cater for the basic needs of my family and the Loan has helped me expand my business. I am now able to save money and even manage to repay $42 of the loan every month”. She said.
“I am able to supplement my efforts in making sure that my family lives a good life and our diets have changed because of my business”, she added on
Khadija is using part of her profit to pay her children’s school fees and purchase school books for her children as five of them are enrolled in public primary school and one is attending a private school.
“I used to earn a profit of $3.70 daily before and now after receiving The Revolving loan and expanding my business, I earn $10.50 daily. There’s so much change all thanks to the business skills I have learnt”. She said.
Khadija keeps record of her daily sales and this enables her to plan well for her business.
“I am very thankful for the BORESHA project funded by EU as it has taught proper business planning and saving”, Khadija said.
She hopes that the BORESHA cross border project funded by the European Union will continue reaching out to more people and empower them.