Maryan Khalif | BORESHA Project
“Growing up as a child in Mandera, whenever I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I never once said nor though of being a butcher” said Mama Yarey, Derkale South VSLA chairperson who recenrly opened the first butchery ever established in that village. Derkale South Women is one of the Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA) that was formed by Danish Refugee Council (DRC) under the BORESHA project in 2018. The group consists of 20 women with different backgrounds.
After receiving training on the VSLA concept, the group was able to adopt the culture of savings, collecting of fines and setting aside 2 USD per member as social funds. After saving for a year and not knowing what to do with the savings other than loaning out to members, mama Yarey, one of the group members was able to identify a niche in the local market in Derkale which is the butchery business. The group immediately decided to go forth with this idea and pool their resources together in order to set up the first butchery in their location. They normally slaughter 2 goats per day. One goat goes for 60 USD and they sell 1 kg of meat at 6 USD getting a profit of 30 USD per day from each goat slaughtered
“Meat production has always been a male job, just because of the sheer size of the animals involved, Mama Yarey explains. “It’s a physical job — actually being able to lift these animals is in itself very demanding, however, this is a barrier I am willing to overcome if only it will serve as a role model to other young enterprising ladies that would want to venture in to this business” says Mama Yarey.
BORESHA supported the group with business training on record keeping, financial literacy, savings and loaning, and they were also given pass books and saving boxes used to store their money. “I never thought that one day we would own our own business, let alone running a sustainable one. However, today the business is doing well although modest and we are expanding our customer base. Our mantra is to provide quality meat and service that meets the expectations of our people,” said Mama Yarey. The butchery is among the few women owned business in the village and this is something that she is really proud of. When asked whether she is intimidated by male businessmen, she replied, “The business community in this village have mutual respect for one another regardless of the gender. We support each other since our successes are tied together.”
The group currently have a total of 1500 USD as savings and 200 USD as social fund. The group savings could have been more than this but was affected by adverse effects of COVID19 on the local economy. However, this one of a kind butchery in a remote village right in the middle of Mandera will bounce back considering they are the only butchery in the village and one of the busiest premises especially in the morning, they have definitely earned the confidence of their customers.