1,000 Microloans for Rural Women in East Africa

Dear Donors,

I’ve spent the past six weeks in East Africa on my annual field trip visiting loans hubs in all three countries where WMI works: Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. As I travel, I jot notes about what I see and feel to jog my memory when I report back to the WMI board upon my return. Insights garnered from my travels help the WMI board stay focused and updated on how best to meet the needs of the rural businesswomen we serve. I’m so grateful to you and all our donors who make this program possible that I want to share my notes with you as well.

• Traveling from eastern Uganda to the southwest of the country, then on to central Tanzania and northern Kenya has reminded me how much African village women have in common and how they face similar challenges no matter where there live.

• The ladies we’ve been meeting are so enthusiastic about the loan program and delighted to talk about their businesses. They are all so Impressive and some have built their businesses into significant enterprises!

• For village women, access to capital remains the most significant impediment to starting a business. Women are also extremely grateful for the skills and financial literacy training. Basic bookkeeping and record-keeping classes provide the essential information that is key to the women running successful businesses.

• WMI networking opportunities have made it possible for women in the loan program to visit their peers in other countries, share ideas and mentor one another.

• WMI infrastructure construction has provided offices and pavilions that these businesswomen can call their own and where they can congregate and meet to conduct program operations. Their pride in having a village headquarters is evident and these physical meeting halls have increased program capacity enormously!

• As always, sharing time with the hardworking women in the loan program reinforces our bond and inspires us to continue to support the enormous impact the loans are having in reducing poverty and improving living conditions for families across East Africa.

2024 marks WMI’s seventeenth program year. From our original issuance of 20 loans to a group of women in rural Buyobo, Uganda, we now serve women through six geographic loan program hubs across Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. We are proud that more than 28,000 women have participated in our two-year loan/training program. We’ve loaned over $12 million USD in some 95,000 loans. 

Your trust and confidence in WMI's grass-roots approach to women's economic empowerment has translated into improved living conditions for thousands of rural families in East Africa. Because the impact of WMI backed business runs so deep and wide in rural villages and because the loan program is self-sustaining once funded, the communities where we work will be forever changed as a result of your support.

Your generosity and consideration in choosing to support WMI is giving African women the chance to work their way out of poverty and stay out of poverty. Every contribution, every act of kindness, every outreach gesture is gratefully received and put to good use. Thank you!

With gratitude,

Robyn Nietert

President