The Success Story of August in Ghana

Jessie is a 58 year old divorced woman with three children. The first two who are 38 years and 33 years are both married while the last who is 18 is in the Senior High School. She hails from Bukom in the Greater Accra Region. She was however born and bred in Kaneshie, Accra. Currently, she lives at Bubuashie but sells at the Kaneshie market where she has her shop.

Jessie used to sell cosmetics but later changed to the sale of cloth-ing since she felt she will make more profit. She usually opens her shop at 7:00 am and closes at 5:30 pm.
Her second child settled in the United States. He used to regularly send her money that she could invest in her business. But as he got married, remittance stopped immediately, which crushed her plan to expand her business. As she discussed about her situation with a friend of hers, she was introduced to ID-Ghana.
After making contacts and receiving our Credit Officers at her business place, she qualified for a first loan and received GH¢ 300 in October 2007. She again received GH¢ 500 and GH¢ 700 in April and November 2008 respectively. Currently, she is a Front Desk partner and her fourth loan of GH¢ 500 is being used to expand her business.
With the support from ID-Ghana she has been able to significantly diversify her business: with time, she included panties, braziers and scarves. Before taking the loan, her sales were ranging between GH¢ 10 and GH¢ 20 daily. Today, her sales range between GH¢ 30 and GH¢ 100 daily! Besides her savings of GH¢ 100 with ID-Ghana, she is also saving with UT Bank. Currently, she is able to meet her financial obligations without any headache. She is happy she is able to pay her last born’s fees without difficulties; she even withdrew some money from her savings for this purpose. Her greatest dream is to build a house for her children. She is confident she will be able to realise this dream since she is actively saving towards it!

The Success Story of June in Burkina Faso

Growing vegetables is increasingly popular for farmers in Burkina Faso after the rainy season. Jean-Baptiste Compaore, a farmer residing in Tansèga, a village situated some 35 km from Ouagadougou, the political capital of Burkina Faso, is one of those brave people who farm the land every day to make a living.

Originally from Tansèga, Jean-Baptiste grows cabbage, peppers and aubergines on his plot. He also grows tree saplings and tries himself at breeding.

Member of the Wend Waoga group, a group strong of eight men, he is also married and the father of seven children, amongst whom, four go to school. The family lives in a compound of five mud huts, three of which are for his family.

Jean-Baptiste learnt subsistence farming from a young age from his father. He proudly explains to us what tools are needed: watering cans, buckets, spades, shovels, rakes, small dabas* for digging holes and bars to dig water holes and wells, as there are no dam nearby. The major difficulty encountered is actually watering, as the wells dry up and it’s impossible to maintain a good level of water throughout the year. Farmers would therefore need cement and sand to improve the wells, but this represents a big investment and remains a limiting factor. Jean-Baptiste is in this situation because he can not yet fund such an expense, no matter how beneficial it would be for the crops.

During the rainy season, Jean-Baptiste wakes up at three a.m. to go to his garden, then goes to the field from eight to farm. At the end of the day around four, he returns to his plot and check his vegetables. He wants to water before nightfall and also check for parasites.

Although close to the capital city, the population of Tansèga conducts agro-pastoral activities similar to rural places, and despite their proximity to the big city, it is not easy for them to travel to Ouagadougou to go to a credit union or a bank.

A while back, the Wend Waoga group got counselling from the local radio "Vive le Paysan" which guided them to the Agricultural and Commercial Bank of Burkina (BACB). But most recently, Jean-Baptiste and his group heard of AsIEnA and the methods of this microfinance institution promoting self-sufficiency appealed to them a lot. They also liked the fact that AsIeNa is equipped with a mobile van, that doubles up as an office and so the loan officer comes and meets the group on site every month.

Jean-Baptiste has now been a partner of the MFI for three months and got a first loan amounting to 25000FCFA. This enabled him to purchase seeds and fertilizer.

Right now, Jean-Baptiste just started harvesting his vegetables and sells them on the local market, it has already yield a return of 17550FCFA, but the season is only starting and he hopes to at least double his income when the rest of his crop. He then intends to use his earnings to repay the credit of course, but also to buy more seeds and grow more species. Then he intends to take a second loan with AsIEnA, of a higher amount to restore and improve the two wells that are currently not in use.


(Story collected by Armel Guenguere)
* A daba is a little rake produced locally

The Success Story of April in Ghana

Mariam is a 42 year old woman whose husband is based in Germany. Their three children live with her at Madina Estate close to Accra. Her first child is 29, followed by the second 19 and the last 5. The first is a trader; the second is in Senior High School Form 2 and the last in Kindergarten. Her husband remits her every month to help with the upkeep of the children. He also visits Ghana at least twice a year so as to spend sometime with the family.

Mariam comes from Tamale in the Northern region of Ghana. She migrated to Accra to trade. On her arrival, she lived with a cousin at Achimota and soon started selling baby clothes. She later got married and then joined her husband at Madina. It was after she had their 3rd child, her husband travelled outside the country for greener pastures.
After selling babies’ wares for some years, she decided to change to plastic bowls since some friends advised she would make more money. She has been selling the bowls for about 6 years now and usually open her shop at 7:00 am and closes at 6:00 pm.
Mariam got to know about ID-Ghana when she needed a loan to enable her expand and diversify her business. A friend of hers who happened to be a partner of ID-Ghana introduced her to Benjamin Egyir, a credit officer at the Madina branch. She was educated on the procedures of the organisation and was given her first loan on the 7th, June 2007.
With her first loan of GH¢ 120, she was able to increase her stock. Her subsequent loans of GH¢ 220, GH¢ 400 and GH¢ 700 received on 25th, October 2007, 28th, February 2008 and 3rd, July 2008 re-spectively, enabled her to include kitchen knives, cutlery set and glasses to her stock.
Before taking the loan from ID-Ghana, her turnover used to be about GH¢ 50 a day. Currently, with the diversification and expan-sion of her business, there has been great increase in her sales. Her turnover now ranges between GH¢ 80 and GH¢ 150. On the whole, the loan has been very beneficial to her. She now has no difficulty paying her children fees even when her husband doesn't send money down. She is able to take better care of them, thanks to ID-Ghana. Her future plans are to educate her two children still in School to the tertiary level and to build a house for them.

The Success Story of March in Ghana

Lardi is 43 years old. She is married with three children. Her hus-band, 48, works with Prudential Bank. She lives in Nima with her family. Her eldest child is 20 and has just completed Senior High School; the second child is 18 and is in Senior High School form 2; the last, 12, is in class 6.

Lardi hails from Kongo in the Upper East Region of Ghana. She migrated to Accra in search of a job. Upon her arrival in Accra she lived with an uncle at 37 Military Hospital until she got a job as a house help. She later left the job because she felt she was made to over work, yet her salary was nothing to write home about. She then started selling ice water, initially in the street, until she met her husband. She later moved from her uncle's house to join her husband at Nima where she has resided since. Even though they changed accommodation a number of times, they have always lived within Nima.
Long after she got married Lardi continued selling ice water until her customers started requesting for minerals. She therefore started saving some money from her profit towards this business venture. After saving for some time, her husband contributed some money to get her start her minerals business. The money however was still not sufficient for her to register with the Coca Cola distributor. It was at that point that she needed a loan to en-able her realise her dream.
Fortunately, she got to know about ID-Ghana. She happened to be living in the same compound house with a brother of Sunday Daa Tii, a Credit Officer of ID-Ghana. She came into contact with Sunday, when he went to visit his brother. Through a conversation she got to know he works with a micro finance organization. She immediately told him about her desire to secure a loan. Sunday was helpful in getting her her first loan and he has continued to be helpful and good to her since.
She received her first loan of GH¢ 30 on 20th, August 2007. With her first loan she was able to register with a Coca Cola truck which supplied her with bottled minerals (sodas). With her subsequent loans of GH¢ 60, GH¢ 100, GH¢ 150, GH¢ 200, GH¢ 250 and GH¢ 400 received between March 2005 and November 2008, she was able to diversify by adding canned minerals and biscuits to her business.
Further, her business has expanded, thanks to the support from ID-Ghana. She has also been able to purchase a glass stand where she now sells very comfortably. Before dealing with ID-Ghana, she made sales of about GH¢ 10 a week. Currently, her sales range between GH¢ 100 and GH¢ 150 a week!
On the issue of trainings received from ID-Ghana, she thinks it is very beneficial since it helped her manage her finances better. In addition to her savings of GH¢ 150 with ID-Ghana, she is able to save with a Susu collector (local traditional savings system) and also has an account with Stanbic Bank.
Today, our financial support has helped her greatly in the payment of her children’s fees. She has been able to buy a lot of kitchen wares which she did not have before. She is also able to support her husband better now.
Her future plan is to save enough money to help her husband to complete a building project which he has not been able to finish due to financial difficulties.

The Success Story of February in Ghana

Mary Brown is a Ga from Chorkor in the Greater Accra Region. She is in her 40s and has been divorced for four years after twenty-five years of marriage. She has three children - one boy and two girls. They are Larte Lartey, 12 years old and in class 6, Larkor Lartey, 9 years old and in class 5, and Larkaly Lartey, 6 years old and in class 2. According to her, the first two children live with their paternal grandfather.
Mary was in Hair Dyeing business when she joined ID-Ghana. She was among the first partners to receive a loan when Chorkor branch was opened in 2002 (see our article of July 2003). She has since received not less than seven loans. Her first loan was GH¢15.00 and her current one is GH¢150.00.
Mary’s working capital back in 2002 was about GH¢50.00 but it has now grown to about GH¢200.00 today. According to her, with the help of the loans and business trainings she has been receiving from ID-Ghana, she was able to divert from hair dyeing into turkey tail business (a delicacy in Ghana!) and further on into fruit business only four months ago. Her savings position in ID-Ghana is currently GH¢185.00.
The loan has helped her in the following ways:
- She has been able to complete the chamber-and-hall apartment where she lives with her last born.
- She has been able furnish her room with items like television, furniture, etc.
- She also bought a fridge during the turkey tail business for freezing the meat
- She is also able to support her child’s education.
Her future business plans are to save a lot of money to expand her fruits business for her to have variety of fruits to satisfy the customers and to save enough money to support her children.
She is keen to say that ID-Ghana’s loans and trainings have helped her to diversify her business twice without any problem. Through the trainings, she has been able to run her business without any difficulty. Now she has recognized and appreciates the importance of savings as well as how to cost her products before selling.
For Mary, ID-Ghana has gained a lot of importance in her life throughout 7 years of support…

The Success Story of January in Ghana

Jesse is 58 years old and is married to Mr. Thomas Addo. They are both Ga people from the Greater Accra Region. They have been married for 20 years now and have three children - Sarah Annan 38, single and unemployed, Justice Annan 35, married and living in London, and Michael Addo 17, a form two student of Mankessim Secondary Technical School.
They have been living at Bubuashie, a suburb of Accra for the past sixteen years in her family house, a four bedroom apartment which is shared with her other siblings.
In1981, Jesse was working as a sales girl at Swanlake supermarket located at North Kaneshie. She worked there for six years before resigning.
Soon after that, she started selling panties at the Kaneshie Market with an initial capital of GH¢ 0.20 (then ¢ 2,000). She was rein-vesting all the profit she made back into the business which en-abled her to add other items customers were demanding such as singlets, ladies’ skirts, boxer shorts, socks, scarves, T-shirts, nightgowns, towels, braziers etc.
Between 2005 and 2007 there were other demands which re-quired additional capital. In her quest to meet these demands, she had discussions with some friends to find means to raise the needed capital. A friend introduced her to ID-Ghana. She was granted her first loan of GH¢ 300 in November 2007, a second loan of GH¢ 500 in April 2008 and the third and current loan of GH¢ 700 at the end of November 2008.
These loans have helped her to add items such as bed sheets, curtains, shedda materials, gray bath, voile etc, which are on high demand. Her capital base has increased to GH¢ 3,000 from GH¢ 2,000, and her daily sales to GH¢ 50 from GH¢ 30. She has also built up savings of GH¢ 160 while operating her business in a small metal container at the market.
She feels ID-Ghana has been of great help to her as it helped her meet all the demands of her customers. She more specifically thinks the trainings she received so far on Costing and Pricing, Importance of Savings, Customer Care, etc have helped her in running her business effectively. She also considers the regular visits of Lucas Dovie (the Credit Officer in charge) to find out how her business is doing as a source of encouragements.
Her plan for the future is to have a large stock of all the products she sells so that she does not run short of supplies. For example, today, some customers come looking for calico and cotton hand-kerchief which she does not have in stock.
Her other plans are to save enough money to see her last child through his education up to university level and to acquire land to put up a house of her own.

The Success Story of December in Ghana

Monica is a 32 year old women married with three children with their ages being 12 years old, 5 years old and 3 months. Two of the children are schooling now; the eldest is in primary 4, and the second is in the nursery. She hails from Aburi in the Eastern Region of Ghana. She was brought to Accra by her sister to work as a house help to a family who resided at Arena, a suburb of Accra. After she got married she then left her job as a house help and then joined her husband at Glefe, also in Accra. Shortly after she was married, her husband who is a business man and owns a bookshop gave her money to start selling foodstuff; he later opened a provision shop for her. Presently, she combines the provisions with the foodstuff in the shop where she sells. She usually opens her shop 6:00 a.m. and closes at 10:00 p.m.

Monica got to know ID-Ghana through a friend of hers. She was then in dire need of a loan to enable her expand and diversify her business. With her first loan of GH¢100 she was able to include frozen meat to her business. As soon as she finished paying the first loan, she took a second loan of GH¢250 which she used to in-creased her stock. With her third loan of GH¢450, she has been able to buy a deep freezer which she intends using to sell minerals and ice cream. As at now she has no money to start the minerals and ice cream business as such she would like to take a fourth loan after she finishes paying the current one so as to invest into it. She is able to make a weekly sales of a minimum of GH¢440 and a maximum of GH¢780.
Monica is so thankful to ID-Ghana for how fast her business has grown. Thanks to the organization, she has been able to expand as well as diversify her business. Her future plan is to help her husband build to a house.

The Success Story of November in Ghana

Margaret is a 37 year old Togolese. She is married with two children. Her first born who is 17 years has just completed Senior High School and the younger one, 5 years is in the nursery. She comes from a village in Togo called Abea but spent most of her life in Ghana. Her reason for migrating to Ghana is to look for greener pastures. Since her arrival in Ghana, she has been living in Accra, and more specifically Russia with her husband, a plumber who is also Togolese.
Before joining ID-Ghana, she used to sell cooked beans with gari and fried plantain (popularly called “red-red”). She got to know about ID-Ghana when she needed a loan to enable her expand her menu in response to frequent enquiries from her customers about other dishes. She spoke about her problem to a friend, who happened to be a partner of ID-Ghana. Her friend introduced her to Mark Kissi, then Credit Officer responsible for her area. She has since received very professional services from Mark and Ali Mahamudu (on the right in the picture below), who later inherited Mark’s portfolio.
Margaret received her first loan of GH¢20 on the 22nd August, 2002. Subsequently, she received GH¢40 on the 13th February, 2003, GH¢60 on the 28th August, 2003, GH¢80 on the 18th March, 2004, GH¢120 on the 30th September, 2004, GH¢150 on the 26th May, 2005 and GH¢150 on the 2nd February, 2006. After her sev-enth loan she realised she was very close to achieving her dream of entering the jewellery business – buying from Togo to sell in Ghana. She therefore went for another loan of GH¢220 on 20th July, 2006. As soon as she finished paying that loan she gave herself a break to manage her business for a while before taking her 8th loan of GH¢ 200 on the 14th June 2007. She again received GH¢300 on 24th January, 2008, and finally her current (running) loan of GH¢500 on August 21, 2008.
The loans have made it possible for Margaret to include a variety of dishes, snacks and accompaniments to her menu. Such addi-tions include Kakolo, Kelewele, and fried yam. By this she is able to meet the demands of her customers. She starts work 10:00 am and closes at 6:00 pm. According to her, the loan has made her dream come true. She had always had a great desire to buy goods from Togo to sell in Ghana and this has been made possible thanks to the help she receives from ID-Ghana. She now goes to Togo every month to buy jewellery and to supply twenty traders with it, who make weekly sales for her. She receives GH¢10 from each of them every week. Additionally, she makes GH¢70 every week from the food she sells.
Margaret has now GH¢309.25 savings with ID-Ghana. She has also opened a savings account with Agricultural Development Bank which she intends using to buy a piece of land in order to build a house in future.
She just wants to say “Ayeekoo” (well-done) to the staff of ID-Ghana for making her realise her dream.

The Success Story of October in Ghana

Mercy is a 53 year old divorced woman. She has two children, the elder 30 and the younger one 23 years old. She comes from Abetifi in the Eastern Region of Ghana. She came to Accra with her husband shortly after they were married and has been living in Nima ever since. Mercy started selling bread and later added a few provisions. She sells at the Nima market. She begins work at 7.00 am and closes at midnight. She got to know ID-Ghana when one of the branches was operating in her church premises. At the time she was in need of a loan to enable her buy her stock in cash instead of on credit. Before she started taking loans from ID-Ghana, she was selling on a table top. She used to buy a few provisions on credit to sell. The maximum quantity of sugar she bought was two tins, and she would then measure it out into smaller consumer quantities for sale. Mercy faced a number of challenges when she was buying on credit. She had to pay a higher price than those buying in cash; preferential treatment was given to those buying in cash, particularly in the case of bread where those buying in cash had the opportunity to select the big-sized loaves before the rest was given out on credit. She was not at all happy with this, so as soon as she got to know of ID-Ghana she immediately seized the opportunity and took a loan to improve her business. She received her first loan of Gh¢25 in October 2003; 2nd loan of Gh¢50 in April 2004; 3rd loan of Gh¢100 in October 2004. She went on to receive her fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth loans in the amounts of Gh¢100, GH¢150, GH¢200, Gh¢200, and GH¢350 between 2005 and August 2008. Thanks to ID-Ghana, she no longer buys her stock on credit. The joyful part is that she no longer sells on table-top. She now sells from her own container shop. Her shop is also well stocked with provisions. She makes weekly sales of Gh¢480 as against Gh¢30 in the days of her table-top business. According to her, she has benefited greatly from the loan. There are even times when she withdraws money from her savings to top-up her capital instead of taking another loan. She does this when the market is not booming. The loan has helped her not only to expand but also to diversify her business. She now sells different kinds of provisions which she wasn’t selling before. Currently, she has savings of Gh¢170... Some of the many improvements in her life are her ability to pay her rent with ease and her ability to sponsor the education of her two grand children aged 7 and 5 years. Her future plan is to establish a tie and dye business. She has had training in this area but has not yet been able to set up due to the capital intensive nature of that business.On the whole she is very happy and says “Ayeekoo” which means well done to all ID-Ghana staff.

The Success Story of September in Ghana

Abena is not married but has a daughter who is 10 years old and is in class four. She comes from Kuntanasi in the Ashanti Region, where she came from in order to find business opportunities. She has been selling cosmetics since she came to Accra. Her normal day at work is starting at 6:30 am and finishes at 8:30 pm at the Madina market.

She used to live close to the Madina market but has now moved to Asale Botwe, where she could find a bigger apartment at afford-able cost.
Abena got to know ID-Ghana when Benjamin Egyir, one of our Credit Officers in Madina branch, was promoting another nearby trader about the activities of the organization; she overheard him. She was at that time in dire need for a loan to enable her expand her business so she joined the briefing given by Ben who directed her to the branch premises. At the office she recalls being warmly welcomed and within no time, this sharp woman realised it was very easy to access a loan from ID-Ghana. So much so that she passed on the information to her elder sister who in turn became a partner of ID-Ghana shortly after.
Abena received her first loan of GH¢ 100 on the 1st, March 2007. As soon as she finished paying the first loan she took a second loan of GH¢ 200 to increase her revolving capital that she invests in her stock. With her third loan (GH¢ 500) and forth loan (GH¢ 800) which she respectively received on the 25th, October 2007 and 10th, April 2008, she was able to expand her business as she wanted, she even had to buy an additional table so as to be able to accommodate all the products she now sells. In the mean-time, she saved more than GH¢ 220…
Before meeting ID-Ghana, her weekly sales was ranging between GH¢ 180 to GH¢ 600. After the four loans of ID-Ghana, which in-creased at an exceptional pace in terms of amount, she now fetches between GH¢ 480 and GH¢ 1,800. Her major challenge for her is the sale of products that are new in the market as most of-ten, unknown brands are not always welcomed by her clients. No doubt ID-Ghana’s training on marketing will reinforce even further her ability to deal with this!
At a personal level, this increase in sales has made her income big enough to leave her single room home and move to a bigger place. She is now equipped with a gas cooker, which allowed her to get rid of the expensive, tedious, unhealthy (and unecological!) coal pot and even recently bought a television set. For the past few months, she also opened a savings account with Abokobe Rural Bank, which make her partially part of the formal banking system.
It is her dream to acquire her own house in future, and she is saving towards that. But already, this single mother takes great pride in showing the world she is now able to take better care of her daughter both at school and at home!

The Success Story of August in Ghana

Rose is a divorced woman who is 56 years old. She has two children with her ex-husband who both are adults and are working. She comes from Kwehu in the Eastern Region of Ghana. She has lived in Accra all her life with her parents. Presently she lives at Awudome Estate at Kaneshie, close to the market. Rose sells beads and jewelleries at Kaneshie market. She starts work at 9:00 am and closes 6:00 pm. She got to know ID-Ghana through some friends who are partners of the organisation. She was then in need of a loan to enable her expand her business. She took her first loan of GH¢ 100/- (€ 62/-) on the 20th, April, 2007 that she invested in her stock. Her second loan of GH¢ 200/- (€ 124/-) taken on 21st, September, 2007 enabled her to increase further her stock. She is now in the course of her third loan of GH¢ 250/- (€ 156/-) that she was granted on 2nd, May, 2008. Before taking the loan, she used to have a weekly turnover of GH¢ 300/- (€ 186/-). She manage in the course of three loans to bring this turnover to GH¢ 800/- (€ 498)! Having increased her income, she is now able to support her elder sister in taking care of their mother who is so old and doesn’t work anymore. She is also able to make contributions whenever her family head ask all family members to contribute in solving a family problem. But for Rose, loans are not all: she thinks every partner should undergo training to improve her/his business. Her preferred topics? Customer care, importance of savings and profit calculation. They all decisively contributed to her success she says! Her future plan is to build a house on a land her father bought some years back. An old dream she can realistically hope to make true before long!

An aerial view of Kaneshie market in Accra, Ghana

The success story of August in Benin

The Head of Social Mission, Edmond, tells us another edifying story this month of a kick start loan partner. A native of Agbodjèdo, Dame Lucienne grew up with her uncle in Sèmè-Podji, between Porto-Novo, the political capital, and Cotonou, the economic capital of Benin. After his death, she returned to Agbodjèdo in Cotonou and married Mr. Benedict A., a jeans and clothing salesman. They have 4 children, 2 of whom attend school. Her 14 year old daughter Honorine got awarded the Certificate of Primary Studies this year and Ella, who is 11 years old is entering the 5th grade. Unfortunately, her youngest daughter Solange who is only 7 failed to finish her 1st grade, as her mum had to look after a sick aunt at the hospital and did not have time to follow her progress. Raphael, the youngest of the family is still at home. Dame Lucienne and her husband briefly stayed in a family home in the Agbodjèdo district before moving into their own little place, a two-bedroom bamboo shack owned by the uncle of her husband. Dame Lucienne was selling jewelry, scarves and cosmetics. But while she had to be at the hospital, she asked a neighbour, who did not care much to man her stall. She subsequently suffered big losses and ran out of working capital. This major setback did not affect her commitment and determination to improve her situation. Straight away, she embarked on a new venture and started selling gari (cassava) and small goods (peanuts and sugar). Her friends knew how enterprising she was, and were not surprised to see her on the rebound. She was also lucky that a neighbor who saw her modest display of goods for sale told her about ALIDé. Lucienne therefore applied for a kick start loan and received a first loan of 10000 FCFA. She was able to diversify her stock with candies, packets of washing powder, condensed milk... (see picture on the left, prior to the lon, and on the right, after the loan) Thanks to the loan, she was also able to upgrade her stall and get some more stools, plates, small plastic buckets and boxes to present her wares. Soon, her daily income increased from 1 500 FCFA to 4 000, and even sometimes 5 000 CFA francs per day. And because she knows the ropes of the business, Lucienne does not sit on this money. Every morning after setting up her stall, she asks a neighbour to watch it and goes to Dantokpa market to buy more stock. She also attended a useful training with ALIDé on credit management, so is now aware of the danger of spending too much money on clothes, make up or funeral expenses, and she focuses first and foremost on her business needs. Every day at 7 o'clock in the morning, Lucienne installs her goods outside in the street and can stay up until 11 o’clock in the evening, even midnight if it’s a busy day. Dame Lucienne got her second loan last month and plans to acquire a bigger stall soon. Her dearest dream is to provide her children with a good education, so for the coming school year, she’s already registered her three daughters with the local school.

The Success Story of July in Ghana

Adwoa Pokua is a mother of two, both children are ladies. Her first born is a trader who sells maize and is also a partner of ID-Ghana; the second child has just completed Senior High School and is awaiting her results. She has no husband as such she brought her children up single-handedly. Adwoa used to buy foodstuff from Dormaah (where she used to live) to sell in Accra, but most of her customers bought on credit and delayed their payment. She therefore decided to stop the foodstuff business and then left her hometown of Dormaah Apemkro (Ashanti Region, central Ghana) to come settle in Accra and start corn and cassava doe trade. She settled first in Ablekuma and then in Tabora (western Accra). She usually starts selling at 6:00 am on the Agbogbloshie market and closes at 7:00 pm. She got to know ID-Ghana through a friend. She was at the time selling her corn doe in very small quantities and she realised that long after her doe had finished people kept asking to buy some more… yet she couldn’t increase the quantity since she didn’t have the capital to do so. It was at this time, in 2006, that she started looking for financing opportunities. A friend of her finally men-tioned ID-Ghana to her. She had her first loan on the 24th, May, 2006 and she was given GH¢ 80/- (€ 50/-). Her second, third, fourth and fifth loans were respectively GH¢ 150/- (€ 93/-), GH¢ 250/- (€ 156/-), again GH¢ 250/- and finally GH¢ 400/- (€ 250/-). Through these loans she has been able to save up to GH¢ 225/- (€ 140/-), out of which she withdrew GH¢ 65/- (€ 40/-) to solve some family problems. According to her, ID-Ghana loans have been very beneficial; it kept her in business when most part of her capital was locked up in debt. Prior to her meeting with ID-Ghana, her weekly sales was just about GH¢ 66/- (€ 41/-); presently it is up to GH¢ 900/- (€ 560/-)! It also enabled her and her first daughter who also takes loan from the organisation to save money and later put their resources together to buy a plot of land. And last but not least, she has been able to pay her second child’s fees in the Senior High School till completion! As far as training are concerned, whatever ID-Ghana has taught her made her aware of the importance of customer care, personal hygiene --which is crucial to her kind of business-- and also how to manage her money better such that she doesn’t eat into her capital. Her plans for the future are to build a house and stores for her business on the land she and her daughter bought. It is also part of her plans to get her second daughter carry on her education at least to the university level…

Adwoa with Mrs. Jacquemot, the wife of the French Ambassador in Ghana, during a field visit in Agbogbloshie on 13th, June 2008. Behind are Alexander Sackey and Emmanuel, respectively Branch Manager and Credit Officer of Agbogbloshie

The success story of July in Benin

Dame Donvide is from Agonlin Covè in the central region of Benin, but was born in 1974 in Cotonou. Her parents came forty years ago to look for a job and never went back. It is also in Cotonou that DONVIDE Léontine met her now husband SOGNONOU Daniel, a salesman in a small shop. Dame DONVIDE currently lives with her husband and six children in one of the neighbourhoods of Cotonou. Her two bedroom house is very modest and too cramped for a family of eight people. If she doesn’t mind it for herself, she continues to fight to improve the living conditions of her children, so they perform better at school.The oldest ones are respectively 20 and 17 year old, and she also has two pairs of twins of 14 and 5 year old. She is very proud of her 17 year old boy and 14 year old twins, who have all been awarded the Primary Studies Certificate and went on to study at a nearby college. For her, the training provided by ALIDé on the importance of educating children is the best to give illiterate women like her.Following an illness, she lost her corn selling business, but she did not remain inactive. She managed to buy the grain for resale on credit and then had to reimburse her suppliers at a premium. But the interest rates were extortionate and she soon ran into problems. Told by other partners of the existence of ALIDé, she gained the support of the microfinance institution to free herself from her dependence towards her suppliers.She obtained her first ‘kick start’ loan on December 18 2007 for an initial amount of 10 000 FCFA. This loan helped her improve her mini restaurant, she diversified her range and started selling rice as well as corn. She was able to improve the living conditions of her family. Her income increased by 2 000 FCFA francs a week and she was late in a position to rebuild her small hut to attract more customers. With her latest loan of 20 000 FCFA, her business went into higher gear and she nourishes the ambition to go further to be able to support her children in their studies.

The Success Story of June in Ghana

Gladys Teye is a married with three children. Her first born who is twenty years is in the Post Secondary school, the second fifteen years is in the Senior Secondary school and the last is in the nursery. Gladys comes from Akosombo, a city of Eastern Region renowned for its dam across the Volta River. Her parents migrated to Accra when she was a child and since then she has stayed in this city. When she got married, she joined her husband – a tro-tro* driver – in their present house of Chorkor, some twenty years ago.
Gladys has been selling food throughout her life. She first started proposing cooked beans and then rice by the road side at Dansoman (where ID-Ghana has another branch) and soon added banku* to her menu.
Through her food selling she was able to help her husband to buy a piece of land on which they put up a two room house and a chop bar where she sold cooked rice, banku* and beans, now from a fixed place. At this point she wanted to include other food but she didn’t have the finance to do so. As she kept wondering where she was going to get money to borrow, a customer of hers came to eat at her chop bar and mentioned ID-Ghana to her. Even though the first loan of GH¢ 80/- she was given in September 2005 wasn’t as much as she expected, it did help her a lot. She was able to include fufu*, kokonte* and omotuo* to the menu. Her second, third, fourth and fifth loan respectively amounted to 160, 200, another 200 and finally, last January, GH¢ 350/- (see green points on the graph). At the same time, she truly feels she has been able to understand the use of savings and since her involvement with ID-Ghana, always made it a point to save regularly (see graph, in yellow).
These loans allowed her to make significant changes in her business, the glass counter for serving and the television set for her clients being two such examples.
As at now her business is doing so well, in a week, the turnover can reach GH¢ 1,500 to GH¢ 1,800/-. Before taking loan from ID-Ghana, she used to make about GH¢ 720/- a week. Enough to finance a four bed room house… Moreover, the size of the business increasing, she also increased the size of her staffs from 6 to… 10!!
Regarding the training she received from ID-Ghana, she now knows how to manage her business well, how to determine her profit and what amount to save. Through the trainings, she is able to spend her finances wisely and she is very grateful about that. The social training has also gone a long way to help improve her human skills.
Her plans for the future are to raise her chop bar to a higher standard by cementing the whole compound to make her cooking place cleaner (see picture), and also completing her four bedroom house.
(*) Tro-tro is a vehicle – most often a minivan – that carries passengers along a pre-defined track across the city. It is by far the most common mean of public trans-portation in Accra.
Banku: Fermented corn/cassava dough mixed proportionally and cooked in hot water into a smooth whitish consistent paste.
Fufu: boiled cassava, yam, plantain or rice, pounded into a glutinous mass, usually in a giant, wooden mortar and pestle.
Kokonte is similar to fufu in result but prepared like banku.
Omotuo: similar dish as banku but prepared with rice.

The Success Story of May in Benin

Today I wanted to share with you the story sent by Emond, the head of the social services at ALIDé in Benin. This illustrates well the need for the 'Kick start' loan products and the positive impact, they can have on the beneficiaries who are amongst the poorest of the poor. Kick start loans vary between 5,000 and 20,000 FCFA (i.e 7.50 euros to 30 euros) for a duration of 6 months at 0% interest rate, 0% processing fees. They allow the beneficiaries to then access higher loans with interest.

Harine Lokpon is a partner from the Sainte Cécile branch of Cotonou. She originates from Ganvié, a village from South Benin. Dame Lokpon Harine has five children aged 11, 7, 5, 2 years and 4 months, all live with her. Her polygamous husband Otcha Samuel is a fisherman and lives with his first wife in Nigeria and the oldest of their children, who helps his dad fishing. He comes rarely to visit his wife and the four children, he left her with. She currently lives with her parents in Sainte Cécile in an island called « Toyoyomè ».People settled here about fifteen years ago and built houses on stilts, they are made of bits of wood and metal and very fragile. The smallest tempest and all of them would be homeless, including Harine’s parents.This very deprived and unemployed young woman got to hear from ALIDé through her dad, Lokpon David, a leader in the community. Her first loan of 10,000FCFA (15 euros) granted on the 9th Janaury 2008 helped her, like most women on the island sell fresh fish. A month later, her living conditions had already improved. She was not relying on her parents anymore. She is very proud to tell how thanks to her small trade, she could contribute to the hospital costs, when her fourth child caught malaria and suffered of malnutrition. This event made her think, she decided to change jobs to be able to look after her children better. With a second loan of 20,000FCFA granted in June, she set up a new venture.
Now, dame Lokpon Harine sells corn porridge with milk and sugar. She sells it from a little rowing boat out on Lake Nokoué between 7h30 and 12h00 every day (see photo). She does not complain, she even added sweet bread to her selection of goods for sale. Her ambition is to become self-sufficient and be able to provide for her children.

The Success Story of May in Ghana

Felicia Okina is an inhabitant of Glefe, originally from Doyoma in Greater Accra Region. She is married and a mother of four children who all go to school (the eldest in high school and the youngest in nursery school). Her husband is from Glefe itself and has a bar shop of non alcoholic drinks in the area. After they got married Felicia followed him from nearby Agege to this area and with time they succeeded in building a proper house for themselves in Glefe.
Today Felicia handles two businesses baking bread loafs and a grocery store. Her bakery business is eight years old and she provides bread to the majority of the door-to-door sellers in the area. Her groceries store is a business more recent which she considered necessary to develop so as to satisfy the family’s growing financial needs, particularly for education.
She met ID-Ghana through an in-law at a time when she was looking for ways to increase her bread-production activity. At that time, the demand was increasing rapidly but she was unable to increase her production sufficiently to meet it. Buying the necessary quantities of flour was particularly difficult. Almost simultaneously, she opened her groceries store and this new venture was in need of stock she was unable to finance on her own.
Her first loan which was granted to her in February 2007 amounted GH¢ 100/-. She used it to buy a stock of flour, which allowed her to increase the production of bread. Her second loan of GH¢ 300/-, obtained in July 2007, she chose to invest it in her baking business once again to buy a gas oven, a valuable appliance to reinforce the baking capacity of her traditional coal oven. This investment enabled her to significantly reduce the time of baking (7 hours to bake bread instead of 11 with the traditional oven) and to simplify operations as well. Finally, in February 2008, she was granted her third loan of GH¢ 450 which she invested in both her businesses.
Along with her loans Felicia was able to put aside some savings: from GH¢ 11/- by the end of her first loan, it became GH¢ 84/- by the end of her second and GH¢ 102/- today, as she is in the course of repaying her third loan. Certain weeks, her businesses are able to generate a turnover up to GH¢ 1,200/-!
Today, Felicia is happy to have crossed paths with ID-Ghana. She is now on her way of putting up a new three bed roomed house in Glefe. Her income from the bakery and the groceries shop are enough to feed and educate her family. These successes, according to her, owe also a lot to the trainings she received from ID-Ghana, especially the ones related to independent management of family and business budgets. Last but not the least, the possibility offered by ID-Ghana to save along the loan, according to her own pace and savings capacity of the moment has enlightened her: it has revealed to herself that she is able to save enough to finance her businesses’ growth. She is then planning to save for an electric doe mixer that will enable her to increase further her productivity & improve the quality of her bread… There’s little that seem to scare Felicia on her way to expand her ventures!

You can also download William Effah's success story in pdf format by clicking here.

Translation by Promina Tevels

The Success Story of April in Ghana

Stella Nyarko is a 52 year old lady from Abruadunkwa in central Ghana. This inhabitant of Sukura, mother of four children (from 10 to 24 years) handles today a shop with her eldest daughter. Her husband is a driver and they live with their family in a small concrete house where they moved in a few years back as their house in nearby area of Lartebiokoshie became too small for their growing family. Like many others, this couple chose some 25 years ago to expatriate themselves to the urban centre of Accra to try their luck in this “land of opportunity” as the capital city of Ghana is often perceived.
Initially Stella was selling second-hand clothes door to door but after four years of this difficult work, she found it impossible to carry on with this job, especially after her first pregnancy. She then started selling groceries from a small table in front of her house. As much as she remembers her stock was next to nothing… But little by little, with her husband’s constant support, she succeeded in buying a small shop. This is when she heard of ID-Ghana, in which she saw an opportunity to finance a stock which she never succeeded in building.
Stella took then her first loan of GH¢ 200/- (€ 140/-) in 2005. Seven loans down the line and having accumulated successively GH¢ 20/- of savings and then 24, 50, 100, 200, 250 and now GH¢ 850/- (€ 590/-), Stella is proud to have been daring enough to launch her business and to have maintained it for so many years.
But her ambition is still far reached. From her GH¢ 850/- savings, she would like to withdraw GH¢ 500/- (€ 350/-) to buy another shop for her eldest daughter in Kasoa, a small town in the outskirts of Accra. She hopes to see this new venture develop at least as well as hers - which has now one employee and will soon employ another.
Almost more than for its loans and savings products, Stella is ready to praise ID-Ghana for the numerous trainings they give along the repayments. The one related to entrepreneurship did help her boost the development of her shop according to her. As far as social trainings are concerned, she feels it did reinforce her capabilities to build a strong family always ready to face difficulties together.

Translation by Promina Tevels

The Success Story of January in Ghana

This month Francisca, the Social Worker of ID-Ghana brought us a story of a woman named Selina Togodui which is really motivating for us. This story is available on the web site of Entrepreneurs du Monde (see ‘Our Actions\Success Stories’ on the central section of the home page or click here).
“My name is Selina Togodui. I am 39years old. I live with my husband and my 4 children in the area of Nima in Accra.
For the last few years, I own a very chop bar. In the beginning I was only cooking and selling fufu* & banku * under a wooden shelter without walls. In the rainy season it was very difficult to cook in this open space: it was difficult to keep the fire burning. As time went by I developed a clientele who really liked my cuisine and encouraged me to increase the variety of my dishes. In 2005 I really felt like extending my business…I felt I was capable of it, but I badly lacked capital!!!
Fortunately, at this time, a neighbor spoke to me of ID-Ghana and encouraged me to submit my application. I went there and the staff gave me the confidence to develop my project of extension, and they finally trusted me! I obtained my first loan of GH¢ 100/- (€ 70/-) in September 2005 and then another 6 subsequent loans as I my business was developing.
I cook and sell a lot of things now! And as for the shelter, I built a room and a kitchen in concrete blocks in addition to buying chairs and tables. Moreover, I equipped myself with a gas cooking range (instead of using wood) which is more much economical, ecological & practical. My chop bar looks like a real restaurant now and I employ 6 people!
Above all, thanks to this development which I am proud of I have saved some GH¢ 1,392/- (€ 977/-) thanks to ID-Ghana and I send my children to a good school.
Every day I recommend ID-Ghana to all the micro enterprises in my area. Indeed thanks to this organization, I had got the capital to invest in my business, I could put some savings aside and I benefited from the trainings: business management, customer relations but also good hygiene and health habits.
I have only one regret regarding ID-Ghana: for each of my loan application, I was given a lesser amount to what I had requested… Well, I guess it helped me develop my business at a safer pace...”

You may also download this success story in pdf format by clicking here.

Banku: Fermented corn/cassava dough mixed proportionally and cooked in hot water into a smooth whitish consistent paste.
Fufu: boiled cassava, yam, plantain or rice, pounded into a glutinous mass, usually in a giant, wooden mortar and pestle.

Translated by Promina Tevels