Shabana is 36 years old and has six children. Her son works while her daughters are getting their education. Her brother also lives with her and operates a washing machine spare parts business.

Shabana has applied for a loan from Kiva partner Asasah for the expansion of her brother’s business. With the loan, her brother will buy spare parts in larger quantity to sell to his customers and earn better profit.

Shabana is hopeful that after the loan investment, her brother’s business will grow further and he will be able to make more profits.

Doña Juana is a businesswoman. She has her own business that has helped her move ahead in life, together with her three children, who are today all grown.

Her business is selling shoes and and a pharmacy; she looks after the shoe store, and her son takes care of the pharmacy. This is how they have been able to move ahead in life.

To begin with, she did it with little capital from her work; later on, with financing from Afodenic, she was able to introduce more variety and styles of shoes, and started to grow, achieving new clients, higher sales, and renting the space from where she sells.

She has been working with Afodenic for seven lending cycles. This new loan today is for replacing the roof of her house, putting down a floor, and repairing the bathroom and buying a new toilet.

What she will buy are materials – zinc sheets, bolts, roof beams, flooring, cement, sand, a toilet and accessories – achieving a better home for her family.

Hong, 47, is married and has been supporting her family by operating a general store in front of her house for the past 12 years. Hong lives with her two sons and husband in Ho Chi Minh City.

Hong sells many kinds of products in her general store such as candies, snack foods, detergents, soaps, and beverages. Hong requires a loan to buy a range of different products in bulk for her general store. This will allow her to restock her store at a lower price and increase the range of products that she offers to customers. She hopes that this will attract additional customers and increase the income of her business.

She hopes that through the loan, she will be able to generate sufficient additional income to further expand her business, improve her family’s living conditions and save money for her sons’ education fees.

Dominica, who is in her early 40s, is single with one grown-up child. She has been selling juice, sodas, water and bites (small cakes) for more than 10 years now. She works from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and is able to make a fair monthly profit.

This will be her fifth loan from Tujijenge Tanzania. She used the previous loans to buy more items which were missing in her stock and to pay household expenses. She has paid back all her loans successfully. She wants a loan to increase her stock of water, juice, sodas and bites. Her dream is to one day be able to finish building her two-roomed house which she has started building.

She will share this loan with her loan group “Mchata” which has a total of 16 members who will hold each other accountable for paying back their loans.

The group is composed of 12 women living in the same village. The group has been in existence for about five years following the creation of the Banc Villageouis. The group members sell peanut oil, millet and breakfast items.

Ms. Seynabou, whose photo also appears in a separate medallion, is the group’s leader. She is 35 years old and the mother of four.

Seynabou sells breakfast foods at the market. She has a lot of experience in this area as she has been doing it for a long time. Her loan will allow her to buy the products (sugar, milk, butter, eggs, coffee etc…) necessary for her business. Thanks to her income, she will help her husband support the family. She will take care of paying for proper school studies for her children.