1,000 Microloans for Rural Women in East Africa

Dear Supporters,

I wanted to take you back a moment to 2008 when WMI funded the first loans in Buyobo, Uganda. Buyobo is a very remote location, nestled in the foothills of Mt. Elgon, an hour’s ride down a washed-out dirt “road” from the provincial town of Mbale, itself a day’s journey from the capital city, Kampala. When we funded these first loans for rural women, virtually all of them, except for a few teachers who lived in the village, were not educated past primary school, or, at best, secondary school. Yet one of their primary goals, beyond feeding their families, was to generate enough income through their businesses to pay school fees for their children.

In WMI’s first Fact Book (2009), we surveyed 200 borrowers on various aspects of their lives. A third self-reported a low comfort level with reading and writing, and many signed their loan documents with a thumb print. 99% lived in extreme poverty, subsisting on less than $1.25 per day. 99% grew their own food. Most lived in semi-permanent housing with mud floors and cooked meals over an open flame. Yet 89% of borrowers reported that their children always attend school, and after a year in the loan program it was noted that a large cohort of borrowers said they felt more comfortable reading and writing.

Over the years, we have seen the importance the women in the loan program place on education. We witnessed the first children of the pioneer borrowers graduate from university. By 2018, 20% of those surveyed reported they were paying university fees for either themselves or their children – with 98% reporting that the only reason they could afford tuition was because of their businesses funded by WMI loans. At the primary school level, students participate in WMI-run boys and girls groups, a school lunch program, and nursery school and orphan programs. These programs were all funded at the local level through the operating budgets of WMI’s village-level partners.

This year, at the annual graduation ceremony in Buyobo, Uganda (the oldest loan hub) for WMI borrowers who completed the two-year loan and training program, the staff surprised me with a special celebration of the achievements of the children of WMI borrowers. It was a terrific idea, conceived by the local loan program staff, to show how the impact of a rural women launching her own business crosses generations.

The ladies asked, “How can we measure the significance of our daughters and sons attaining university, college and technical school degrees because we could pay their fees with our income? Before we had businesses we could not even dream they would finish secondary school.” And now, Buyobo boasts a new generation of doctors, dentists, midwives, lawyers, engineers, social workers, teachers, and finance specialists. Some are returning to their home villages to develop a plan to launch their careers by starting their own practices. The photos included here give you an idea of their achievements. But the “Seeds of Hope” poem, written by one of the graduates, a daughter of one of the pioneer rural businesswomen, conveys their deep gratitude and recognition that their mothers’ participation in the WMI loan program made them what they are today.

We wish our supporters a sunny Spring and send you all a heartfelt thanks from the over 11,000 rural women currently receiving WMI loans and training funded by your contributions.