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Community businesses that have run for 8 months or more using the asset-based approaches are eligible for small investments to grow their businesses. The small group leaders present how their businesses have been growing and share their plans to grow more. It is also an opportunity for an exhibition of all the products that came out of the community enterprises.
The 2019 community investment day was amazing. The community leaders responded to our invitation and shared how proud they are to witness all the progress in the community.
During the training, we learned about focusing on what we have instead of what we do not have and we went back and applied what we had learned. We started by saving only 200 RWF per week and after 3 months, we identified someone in our community to teach us how to make beaded jewelry. A few months later, we sold some of the Jewelry we made and from the profits, we paid for one of the group members to learn advanced skills in beaded Jewelry and she came back and taught us. We also started a mushroom growing but unfortunately, it did not go as we hope but we never gave up, instead we started a poultry business. We bought each member 2 chickens and they returned 4 chickens to the group. One year later, we received an investment that helped us scale from 40 chickens to 190 chickens. The training gave us the foundation to do this. From the time we started these initiatives, no woman among us goes without basic necessities like food, soap and cooking oil. We are also able to ensure that all our children stay in school. We are currently saving to starting a new business to make warm sweaters for schools around us.
I never used to believe in myself, I was overwhelmed by all the problems I was facing and I felt like I didn't have any means to meet them. But after the training, I started believing that I can and that if we joined our efforts with other women in my team we could even do more. Through a small loan from my group, I was able to buy my own rabbits and now am able to make some money to meet my daily needs. I was also able to buy new roofing sheets for our house and renovated it. The team contributed to my family's health(Mutuelle) insurance and paid school fees for one of my children. Now I am able to pay for my family's mutuelle on my own and I believe that will be able to even more in the future
I never used to believe in myself, I was overwhelmed by all the problems I was facing and I felt like I didn't have any means to meet them. But after the training, I started believing that I can and that if we joined our efforts with other women in my team we could even do more. Through a small loan from my group, I was able to buy my own rabbits and now am able to make some money to meet my daily needs. I was also able to buy new roofing sheets for our house and renovated it. The team contributed to my family's health(Mutuelle) insurance and paid school fees for one of my children. Now I am able to pay for my family's mutuelle on my own and I believe that will be able to even more in the future