The story of Asha Malick Hamis:

“We could not even afford a good place to sleep on, we had to share a small mattress myself, my husband and our 3 children, Even with that hard life I never thought that a small business would lessen our problems, I was scared and I thought I wasn’t the kind of person who can run any kind of a business”.

“When WORTH came to our village, together with other women we decided to form Bumongonzi group. I was honored by the other members as they elected me the secretary of the group. We set our rules and our weekly mandatory savings rate which was 100 Tanzania shillings. During our weekly meetings, we were reading the Women in Business series of WORTH books, and we came to learn a lot of good things. It was in this group that I came to realize that I needed to have an income generating activity in order for me to have my weekly savings and improve the lives of my children.

I borrowed from the group and used the loan to start a kitchen garden in front of our house, growing green peppers. It didn’t take long before we started picking some. My husband accepted to take the green peppers and other vegetables to the town market where he sold them at a wholesale price. Surprisingly we got good money out of the business. As a result I decided to increase my weekly savings to 5,000 shillings. Amazingly my savings kept on growing as days went on. At the end of the first cycle of 6 months I had managed to save about 256,700 shillings. I was so happy when I was given a dividend of 17,000 shillings. Everybody in our group was very happy about the progress of the group.

At home, my life was becoming much better. I bought a new mattress for our children, they were so happy. I was also able to send my daughter to a nearby school. This positive change made me view life differently; it was like a big blindfold has been removed from my eyes. In our group we were taught and encouraged to have more than one business. I then decided to add another business. I decided to start a second hand clothes business. I withdrew 30,000 shillings from my voluntary savings and took a loan of 50,000 shillings from my group. I then bought a bag of children second clothes which I started selling in a nearby market. This also turned out to be a good business. I was able to get a profit of 36,000 shillings.

In February 2008, my husband and I decided to build a bigger house for our growing family. I withdrew 35,000 shillings from my voluntary savings. We used the money to make bricks. My husband bought the stones we needed for the foundation of our new house. We have also managed to buy some other materials that are needed for the house. We have not yet managed to put up the house but I believe that one day my family will have a bigger house. We are working hard as a family to make sure that we are achieving our dream”.

“I am grateful to God for bringing this WORTH program to our village. I am also thankful to my husband for his constant support. My husband values my effort and my group to the point of sending my savings to the group when I am out for business”. “My future dream is to sell not only second hand clothes but also new clothes from Uganda, I am not intending to stop my kitchen garden but rather I am planning to expand it as its turnover is fast and much better than is for clothes”.

“My advice to other women is this; they shouldn’t be scared to get started doing business. But in order for them to become successful business women they should join a WORTH group. In the group they will learn how conduct their business and will benefit from advice and sharing from other members. Women should work hard, trust on their abilities and be disciplined in whatever they are doing. If they are able to do this, they will become successful” Asha concluded her story with a broad smile.