“A time to renew our shared vision of working in the community so as to achieve a greater impact in alleviating poverty, and also share success stories!”
Wambui Nguyo, Small Business Fund Coordinator in Nairobi, Kenya, offered the above tagline summary of our Small Business Fund Coordinator Conference in Kasozi Village last July. We traveled from five different countries (United States, Malawi, Kenya, Nigeria, and our two hosts in Uganda), arriving at the end of a small dusty, dirt road to met for three days to discuss all things Small Business Fund.
Uganda is quite a bit more tropical compared with Kenya and Malawi, so we shed our warm sweaters (which we necessary in the cold Nairobi rain) and brought out the sun hats and gathered under a pop-up awning for our morning meetings and evening check-ins.
Our conference meeting room in tropical Uganda!
Our Coordinators range from 12 years to less than 1 year experience with our program and so that sharing between coordinators was rich and welcome. I also had chances to share my thoughts and experiences from the office side of things.
“I met with veteran coordinators of SBF who had a lot of successful stories,” Wambui wrote after the conference. “Just listening to them on how they try to conduct their training is something that I will take back with me. There is need to mentor the groups more before giving the initial $100.”
A Focus on Sustainability
One of our most vibrant discussions was about how to coach groups about conducting their new business with an eye toward sustainability; focusing on the long-term, rather than short-term activities that will leave the family in the same state of poverty. Ofonime Nkoko, SIA SBF Coordinator in Abak, Nigeria also highlighted how he will focus more on mentoring, “This training is very helpful to me. The areas to be noted most are: the mindset preparation; the need and the right time to give out the money; the demand, investment, reinvestment, sustainably, and Share the Gift theory.
Sharing the Gift
Seeing how the SBF program is implemented in each unique community situation (rural or city, in different countries) was part of the fullness of the conversation. “It was helpful to know there are several ways of Sharing the Gift e.g. mentoring, training others on certain skills, etc.” wrote Wambui, the newest coordinator in attendance.
Wambui and Canaan during a tea break between conference sessions.
Canaan, whose community in Malawi has a thriving culture of Sharing the Gift for SIA participants reflected, “I learned how Sharing the Gift implementation can spur more community empowerment and development.”
Dennis Kiprop, SBF Coordinator in Eldoret, Kenya captured the enthusiasm of the group and our willingness to learn from each other in his evaluation, “The time at the conference was good. The discussions in the mornings as a team were especially helpful and encouraging. I learned from the other coordinators and from Tanya and Boyd to be effective coordinator in creating sustainable business groups to the point of Sharing the Gift. We can do it better in the future as coordinators!”
