Help bring Financial Stability to Uganda

Mother to eight children, Alice certainly has her hands full. Surrounded by abject poverty in rural Uganda, life has not been easy, and Alice is no stranger to rolling up her sleeves to work alongside her husband, rearing cattle for beef. Today, her farm is thriving, and she has even opened her first savings account which allowed her to expand by purchasing dairy cows.

Alice first learned about Opportunity Uganda in 2013 and what she has achieved since then is nothing short of amazing. Having struggled to run a profitable farming operation, Alice was not only grateful to access a loan, which she invested to purchase additional head of cattle, but she was especially delighted to receive the business skills and financial literacy training she needed to become a successful businesswoman. A natural born entrepreneur, she put her training into action and stepped up to help the other women members of the Empara Farmer’s Trust Group along their own journeys out of poverty.

With a few loans over the past three years and extensive business skills and technical farming training, Alice’s list of achievements is extensive. She has learned the importance of diversifying her business as she expands to reduce the gap created by seasonal agricultural incomes. In response, she began to grow and sell eucalyptus trees and she also reinvested her profits to construct a rental building with 10 rooms to bring in consistent income. Perhaps most importantly, Alice is giving back to her community by creating jobs for four neighbors and acting as a mentor to women in her community who benefit from her willingness to share business management and modern farming practice advice.

As Alice said, “I dream that all eight of my children will be able to finish their education and that my business will continue to grow. I am grateful that Opportunity Uganda provided the tools I needed to succeed, to empower me to achieve growth in my business.”

Alice is just one of many inspiring entrepreneurs who you have helped uplift in Uganda. You are equipping entrepreneurs, especially women, to perpetuate a cycle of lasting transformation in their lives, in their families’ lives and across their communities.

Links:

• Learn More About Opportunity Uganda

Opportunity believes that knowledge is power, especially knowledge in the hands of dedicated school proprietors and passionate students. Your support has been crucial to the progress we have made to deliver financial and educational access to underbanked families in Uganda. As of August 2015, Opportunity Uganda was supporting 158 low-cost private schools through School Improvement loans to help add classrooms, toilet facilities, transportation, etc. This represents a growth of 26% over the prior year and is currently impacting 39,500 kids. Opportunity Uganda also provided School Fee loans to 5,135 parents to help about 15,947 children attend school, many of which are orphans.

Joyce, a school proprietor and single mother of six from Uganda, believes that every child deserves to dream big. Her own struggle to ensure her children’s education led her to open an affordable, high-quality school in her community - a safe place that offers the perfect environment for learning and for enjoying lots of love and encouragement. Joyce invested Opportunity Uganda School Improvement loans to expand Batanda Junior School, hire dedicated teachers and construct a residence hall on campus which keeps staff safe and close by to support the kids.  

Today, Batanda Junior School provides students with two nutritious meals daily in addition to an excellent education. Joyce is so confident in the transforming work of her school and her partnership with Opportunity that she is eagerly making plans to double her community impact by opening a second school. She is currently educating 15 orphans and investing in the future of all children, as well as her entire community. 

Links:

• Where We Work: Uganda
• Opportunity Blog