Economic Growth Egypt Project #9108

Financial Inclusion in Egypt - Empower 8000 women

by Coptic Orphans

Project Report | Feb 6, 2017
Cashing in on Henna: An Innovative Mother's Story

By Nermien Riad | Executive Director

As a supporter of B’edaya, you’re the reason Coptic Orphans is able to extend microloans, business coaching, and other support to the proud mothers of the fatherless children we serve.

These widows may have gotten start-up funding from Coptic Orphans, by God’s grace and through your generosity, but we’re 100% clear that the most valuable capital lies inside each of them. Courage, tenacity, and creativity — these are things no outsider can supply.

So when one of the mothers in the B’edaya program comes up with an amazing tactic to boost her business, we’re excited to share the news.

Here’s a good example that just came my way, from speaking with a staff member who just got back from Middle Egypt. Mariam, who runs a hair salon, informed her:

“I didn’t have any customers after Eid El Fitr. Meanwhile, I got to know a Sudanese woman who makes henna tattoos for women. She didn’t have a workspace, so I offered to let her come to my store and tattoo my customers, without me taking any money in return.”

How did this innovative marketing technique, which hinges on the Middle Eastern custom of women getting temporary tattoos for weddings, work out? As Mariam recounted:

“Lots of girls and women started coming into my hair salon to get a henna tattoo, and I’ve been doing their hair while they wait for their turn. Then these customers tell others about my business.”

This is the spirit B’edaya seeks to encourage, and that your support allows to flower. It’s how B’edaya has gotten the following results, collected during a fall 2016 monitoring and evaluation trip:

100% of mothers paid off the first microloan installment on time
88% of mothers gained net profit, after paying off the first installment
73% of mothers reinvested their income to expand their projects
25% of mothers were able to improve their standard of living thanks to their profit

Of course, all this good news doesn’t mean the B’edaya mothers face no challenges. Our staff also found that 55% of mothers said their major challenge was coping with rising prices brought about by economic instability.

This is where Coptic Orphans is counting on you to continue your support, so that when the time comes, we can give these entrepreneurial mothers — and others like them — the credit and coaching they need to make their ideas profitable.

B’edaya, at the end of the day, is about dignity and achieving as much economic independence as possible. The best way to do that is together, as we are with your help, by unleashing these mothers’ innovative spirits.

Thank you, and may we make 2017 an even greater year for these business-minded widows!

— Nermien

*Names and places changed to protect the privacyof B'edaya participants

Permalink

Nov 7, 2016
She's Making Dignity a Family Tradition

By Nermien Riad | Executive Director

Ireney is showing her kids how hard work pays off.

Ireney doesn’t seem to know the meaning of the words “take it easy,” which may explain how she’s built her business into a source of family pride and dignity.

You last heard about Ireney in 2014, when I visited her in Samalout. She overwhelmed me with hospitality then, and things hadn’t changed a bit around her livestock feedstore when I saw her this summer.

Except – that’s not strictly true. Since I last saw Ireney, she’s converted her hard work, intelligence, and B’edaya loans into more progress. She has expanded her line of animal feed, flour, and fertilizer.

There in the cool, cavernous “warehouse” that’s connected to her home, she meets customers and neighbors, closes her deals, and does one more extremely important thing: she passes on her values.

Ireney is very clear: She wants her kids grow up to be hard-working in their lives and occupations. To that end, she’s begun involving her young son in accounting and helping her with the business.

It’s important for her kids to have role models, because they’re already missing one. Ireney’s husband passed away many years ago, so her guidance is all the more crucial.

Together with a specially trained Coptic Orphans volunteer — a Church-based “Rep” who comes recommended by his bishop — she’s putting her children on the path to a quality education and solid values.

Ireney’s success demonstrates what widowed mothers can achieve with access to this type of microcredit initiative. Her goal is to grow her business because "the more I can buy, the more I can sell.”

B’edaya funds these women’s income-generating projects from the ground up until they become self-sufficient. Donations cover all aspects of the loan process from beginning to end, and the money is reinvested over and over to help multiple families.

But beyond this, there is the foundation that’s being laid for a new generation. B’edaya mothers model the behaviors that give their family dignity and their children the keys to success.

To those who’ve never been there, it’s hard to grasp what Ireney is overcoming. In Samalout, and in Upper Egypt in general, traditions severely limit widows. Many end up taking charity for life.

But Ireney is breaking this mold, with your help. Two years from when I last visited her, she’s going strong. Her kids can see it, and you can feel it — in her manner, in her frequent laughter, in the prosperity of her household.

And it’s not only her household. In March, Coptic Orphans held ceremonies around Egypt honoring 42 widowed mothers. They received a total of LE243,500 (US$27,400) in microloans for their income-generating projects.

All of us at Coptic Orphans see these mothers as heroes. By God’s grace, and through your generosity, we’re honored to provide them with both microloans and coaching in entrepreneurial skills to develop their inborn perseverance, ingenuity, and business-savvy.

This is a great blessing to be part of, and the Coptic Orphans family is grateful that you’ve chosen walk with families like Ireney’s.

* The name of the B’edaya participant has been changed in this instance to protect her privacy

Permalink

Aug 5, 2016
A Mom's 'Stability, Self-Confidence, and Opportunity to Prove Myself'

By Nermien Riad | Founder and Executive Director

A widow joins B'edaya during the 3rd-round launch.

I wanted to share an inspiring story I just heard from one of our staff, who is visiting the villages in Egypt where your support is enabling widowed mothers run their own businesses. He told me:

I met a woman named Marina from a village near Sohag. When she was widowed three years ago, she was left alone to support four daughters.

Before her husband's death, she had been taking odd jobs tailoring clothes for friends and acquaintances. After her husband died, she started doing it full time.

In 2014, her daughters became enrolled in Not Alone, the Coptic Orphans program that works to remove every obstacle between fatherless children and their education. While the program focuses on offering the children love, encouragement, and mentoring aimed at meeting their specific needs, especially with regard to education, it also benefits the entire family.

One of the key benefits for mothers is the opportunity to become part of B'edaya, the Coptic Orphans microfinance initiative tailored specifically to widows' needs.

Marina was able to join the second round of B'edaya and obtain a loan to boost her small business. In her words, being part of Not Alone and B'edaya gave her a feeling of "stability, self confidence, and an opportunity to prove myself."

The B'edaya loan helped her to avoid having to reach out for handouts. It also meant she didn't have to work for someone else. In fact, for Marina, B'edaya "isn't just about the loan, it's about the advice, the follow-up, the guidance."

Today, two of Marina's daughters are in college. One is studying graphic design and the other studies business. Her advice for her daughters now is, "Learn a trade along with your degree; in Egypt's unstable economy, having a trade is something to fall back on."

Marina's dream is that her little home business grows into a small factory where she hopes to one day teach tailoring skills to young women, and then hire them.

This spring, Coptic Orphans held ceremonies around Egypt honoring 42 widowed mothers who received LE243,500 (US$27,400) in microloans for income-generating projects in B'edaya's third round.

These mothers are heroes to all of us at Coptic Orphans, and by God’s grace, we’re honored to provide them with both microloans and coaching in entrepreneurial skills to develop their inborn perseverance, ingenuity, and business-savvy.

Thank you for your continuing support, and for helping these mothers escape poverty and put their families on the path to economic self-sufficiency!

Permalink

‹ 1 ... 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 ... 16 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.