Micro enterprises supporting women in business

Anita (standing) is the leader of a women's business group, she looks after the administration of loans for 12 women. Blessing Shelle (sitting) visited the group and is pictured here signing paperwork on behalf of BERUDA.

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“Yesterday, I was in the field in Belo with the PROMIC Coordinator from BERUDA to support four women’s groups through our ongoing microcredit initiative. PROMIC, which stands for Promoting Micro Enterprises, is a BERUDA project sponsored by Swisshand, aimed at empowering economically disadvantaged local women.

Through this program, women receive business training in entrepreneurship, followed by access to micro loans to either launch or boost their small businesses. We also provide continuous follow-up to ensure they apply best practices for business growth and sustainability.

Last month we focused on equipping participants with the necessary skills through training. This month, we are moving into the loan disbursement phase to help them put those skills into action and grow their businesses.

What has been great is that we've been able to address some of the problems the women were encountering in paying back loans and we've made some changes such as longer loan terms and scheduling post-harvest re-payments dates. This along with the refresher training on the terms and conditions of the loans has given the women a much more positive outlook on the program and they're energized about their businesses."

- Blessing Shelle is the assistant to the Director of BERUDA.