Imagine, last year your received a grant which was large enough for you and three friends to start a new business. You are feeling pretty good – you’ve all worked hard establishing your brick-making business. You made mud, packed it into molds, then left the bricks to dry. Afterwards, you fired the bricks in a clay stove because you knew you can sell them for more if they’re fired bricks.
Now, one year later you are better clothed. You’ve learned how to run a business, and you’re eating better and including more meat in your diet. Perhaps most importantly, you can now proudly send your children to school for the whole school year.
This is the story of Efulansi Kauda, Joy Ali Bamgatatie, John Tanzilamba, and Moses Sabirye of Kasozi Village in Uganda who started a SIA Small Business Fund business together in 2008. Today they are still making bricks and working together.
Signing for the group’s initial $100 grant.
At SIA we don’t just give things away. We give people resources and tools to get ahead. We give them the autonomy to start whatever business they think will be successful given their skills and resources, and the local demand. I think this is part of the reason that 100% of new SIA business owners from Uganda say they feel better about the future when they report back to us. Thank you for helping us continue this exciting partnership.
This is just one story that inspired me this week as I put together the Fall/Winter Newsletter. I’m just about finished with the newsletter and it’s filled with stories, photos, and more SBF One-Year reports. Keep an eye out for it in your mailbox soon!
