"We were inspired by God's precious gift of Jesus to reduce spending on ourselves, so leaving more valuable resources to give to those with nothing."
CREATING ENTREPRENEURS
By Joyce Mulama, Communications Officer, World Vision Kenya (September 2009)
The memory of how Kenya’s election violence brought down her small restaurant and shop in the outskirts of Kisumu is still painful. But Evelyn Juma’s resolve to move on has seen her venture into new businesses that are proving successful, with help from the micro-enterprise organization, KADET.
Her restaurant and shop were looted by fighting gangs during violence that erupted early last year after hotly contested elections held in December 2007. "They took everything at the eatery including furniture and cooking equipment. They also wiped the shop clean literally," Juma narrated, still in disbelief.
"Everything I had worked so hard for, all those years went down in a flash. I was left with nothing to feed my children," said Juma, a mother of four children, one of them adopted.
After a month of pondering over her next move, Juma borrowed some money from a friend, added it to her husband’s savings, and rented a room in a nearby market where she operated a posho mill (cereal grinding mill). "Things got tough because the overheads outweighed the income. I was literally struggling to feed my children. I could not even afford to buy them school uniforms and books," Juma recalled.
When she walked to KADET offices in Kisumu in November 2008 for financial assistance, she was first taken through training on how to manage funds. After the eight-week course, she was surprised at how her first loan of 40,000 ksh (about 330 GBP) elevated her business. To maximize on the profit, she moved the posho mill from the rented premises to her own farm where she did not need to pay rent. With the loan she was able to stock 15 bags of maize as well as buy diesel to run the posho mill. She started counting customer after customer, who flocked her three-and- a quarter acre farm to buy and grind maize flour.
"Now what I am getting is enough to cater for my family. From selling the maize and running the posho mill, I get a profit of about 1200Ksh (about 10 GBP) each day," she said as she wiped off dust from her posho mill.
The 36-year Juma is bubbling with excitement at the prospect of becoming one of the greatest businesswomen in the area, and so often lauds KADET for its support. "I thought I would die when I lost my property in the violence. KADET has changed all that, and I am now enjoying life with my children," she stressed.
