Witnessed how our impact has led to the development of over 2,000 businesses in only four years
As many of
you know, I love to quote Mother Teresa
….”I cannot change the world but I can cast a stone across the waters
and create many ripples.” This is so true. I was overwhelmed when I reconnected
with one of my first students from 2010 (Rehema). She and her husband Ibrahim have
formed 100 village groups of 30 people each. They have taught these groups how
to self-organize and create informal micro-lending circles. They also used my
course materials and handouts to deliver the business start-up training to
these groups. To date over 2,000 of
these people have started individual or group businesses and have sustainable village
micro lending circles. It was surreal to meet with several of these groups and
realize the impact of what was started only four years ago. It both humbled me
and energized me. I made a commitment that during my next visit (early 2015) I
will deliver train-the-trainer sessions for two representatives for each of the
100 groups and I will also create a business workbook for each of the 3,000
group members. This workbook has been in
development for some time now and is a slow exercise as I need to first create
the concepts and then move that into language/concepts that can be understood
by those with no more than a Grade 3 education. There is also a heavy emphasis
on graphics and illustrations since a good percentage of the people are not
literate and have no education. This is
going to be a major undertaking both in the development and production of the
materials as well as coordinating and delivering the training but I am
optimistic that we can make it a reality.
Check out other updates from the most recent visit back to East Africa (spring/summer 2014):
Formed a partnership with a village women's group for a new business program
Witnessed how our impact has led to the development of over 2,000 businesses in just four years
Learned from the experiences of a successful NGO in Kenya (Village Enterprise)
Reviewed progress with our 'Freshi n Safi' microfranchisees
Delivered gifts to the orphans at Kilimanjaro Kids Centre
Formed a partnership with a village women's group for a new business program
Witnessed how our impact has led to the development of over 2,000 businesses in just four years
Learned from the experiences of a successful NGO in Kenya (Village Enterprise)
Reviewed progress with our 'Freshi n Safi' microfranchisees
Delivered gifts to the orphans at Kilimanjaro Kids Centre
