Project Updates

preparation for the same garden

some of my crops (cabbage) just about to be mature

this is my shop where i have the plans to invest on

There was a significant increase in item enquiries & sales went up about 20%. Its the begining of the year therefore business is quite low. The loan I had taken was used to purchase part of the material needed to make sample sets of duvets & curtain sets. I succeeded in making a superb sample which I've been using to market my idea thanks to Zidisha loan.
Towards mid year, business will pick up & I target to increase my inventory by at least 40%. This will cater for walk-in clients who want to buy without necessarily waiting to order. I also intend to create a business portfolio that will enhance my speciality in matching duvet covers with curtains. I will embark on online advertising as a means of targeting the youth who are social media savvy. My plan is to have a double digit growth by the end of this year. With Zidisha's loans I know and plan to succeed in business.

Thank you so much to Zidisha and the lending community/person with your support. Am now filling happy for with your support have bought a mosquito net for my baby.

This are the photos

Thank you to Zidisha and this are some of photos in my work place

I am Tettey Elijah and i want to use this platform to express my sincere gratitude to Zidisha lenders for the enormous help the lending community has rendered me for the past year. Zidisha lent me a loan which i started a business with. After completing my first loan payment i was granted a second loan which i used to import some mobile phones, tablets, power banks, flash drives and other computer related accessories which i have sold to also make some profit.
Currently i own and manage my mini-importation business. With the help of Zidisha, i now import several goods ranging from phones and accessories to mechanical watches and jewelries set. I can now also sell my goods through online and its working perfectly well.
I really want to thank Zidisha for the help it has given me. It is my hope that sooner, I shall also become part of the lending team so i can make a positive change on the life of others just has Zidisha has impacted positively on my life.

During the loan funds, will buy farm inputs for this will allow me plant my farm inputs on time, and will increase my earnings at 90%, also my dependents will appreciate for repayment amount is affordable. My neighbors will be visiting my projects to confirm the assistance granted to enable them joint the system, attached here under are my photos taken in my small piece of vegetables plot.

I still im in the process of developing the project. Currently iv bought the Phtocopier and the Printer which has costed me a total of Ksh 100,000. The shop which is to be vacated hasnt been yet, but in few weeks time it will be ready fro use.As i said earlier, i have already paid fr the shop, thus i just must get to it. This is a project that il be investing much in it. AS im looking forward to working in this, ill always ensure that i keep up to my promise of paying the loan granted to me on time. Thanking you in advance Zidisha.

This are my children.

"Before I joined Zidisha my business was moving at a slow pace. l cannot pay my children school fees but now my business is moving fast and l am able to pay my children school fees for this term.Customers are willing to buy my food because of the way l cook my food. Thanks to my supporters.

This is the wonderful product i retail called Trevo

I traveled to meet my family for a family meeting. And when i told them about how Zidisha is helping, they were glad. My father is a purchasing clerk for Akuafo Adamfo cocoa Marketing company. He just won the best farmer award for the UTZ in the Bekwai District. If Zidisha continues to support me like this, i will be where i want to be in the next 5 (five) years.
I have been speaking to many trustworthy potential friends who can also benefit.
Thank You all.
T.D.Wise.

hi my lenders...i appreciate you support.i am happy to let you know i bought my products and the business going on well

my shop

That is my potatoes farm

The producer of the cane items is very happy. Though i don't buy much from him, my support to prefinance his production have helped him have more material to produce for the market. He pays me 4% of every items he sells till the agreed date.
Even that i can focus on my "HOUSE BOY" service too. He now produce variety of items.

Hello it my greatful to all the leaders who helped me achieve my goal for agribusiness, may God bless u

Hello to all lenders,
I have been working on my small shop in order to get a permanent office for my business.
Since i learnt how to lay tiles and the painting, i did the work my self to reduce expenditure.i have also finish with the linghting system waiting for the electric power.

Hello im so greatful for the support u give to me,i managed to purchase the heifer and also prepare the cow shed for the heifer i purchased.thankyou and may God bless u all

Recently, I managed to do a two day job that really paid well. The job entailed carrying out a research for an ngo which deals with pregnant women's health. Since I saved what I needed, I cobsidered repaying the loan so that I may cover the loan quick. I am really thankful for the opportunity to be a zidisha member.

Thank you all lenders and Zidisha team
Can I buy the ingredients Staples to stock merchandise are depleted,. all of loans at zidisha

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Hello Jerop!

I am new to Zidisha but am excited about using it. I just funded your $100 loan. I hope this helps you expand your chicken business and in turn improve your quality of life. I have a friend who raises chickens and it seems like an interesting line of work. I wish you the best of luck!

Thanks,

Franklin

LE JOUR DU REMIS DU LOT GAGNE SUR LES TRANSFER

LE JOUR DU REMIS DU LOT GAGNE SUR LES TRANSFER

One on one education with Gyewie about Zidisha after our meeting. The meeting was very fruitful and many were very happy upon hearing the good news about Zidisha.

hello! I wanted to talk about another activity that I do at home! I also do sales of different breeds of birds ... they are call'd parakeets and callopsites . and for 5 years I produced these species and my prices these torque parakeets I sell a 15.000cfa and callopsitte has 50.000cfa . here are some pictures

I am taking this opportunity to thank my Lenders and the Zidisha team for this great assistance you have offered me, I accepted the bids yesterday and today I received the loan. That was amazing! I never thought it would be that fast, I really appreciate.
I am also informing you that we agreed with the electrician today that we shall buy some materials tomorrow Saturday and complete everything by Monday. I'll be posting and informing you on the progress. Once again, thank you very much.

Hi,
I am doing very well and my family too. Business also is on the increase every single day. I am very grateful for the loan I received and I trust that yiu will also continue to increase.
I just bought a very nice P4 desktop computer which I will have it in my office on monday 2nd february. I will send a photo then.
My family is doing very well and we are very much happier and looking forward for increased business and eventually being lenders here at zidisha.

Thanks,
Dishon Maliga

Dear Lenders,

It was a pleasure to get to meet with Ishmail last night, if briefly, along with Volunteer Mentor George Bonsu.

When I ask Ishmail if he was always intrigued by sewing and fashion design, he laughs and shakes his head in a strong, “No.” He had little interest in the field and was only involved reluctantly at first. But living in a poor and abusive home, he started to help a tailor friend of his father’s in return for food and pocket money. Eight years, an apprenticeship, and a lot of savings later, Ishmail owns his own business designing and producing high quality African clothing. He is even passing his knowledge on to a young apprentice of his own. (We weren’t able to visit his shop as we spent a lot of time working through a friend’s application but you can see pictures of some of his work in his profile.)

Ishmail’s first Zidisha loan has helped him buy fabric stock for his designs so that he can produce enough to meet a rising demand. But he really looks forward to growing his relationship with Zidisha lenders and using his lending capital to expand his operations from one small sewing machine to three industrial machines, which would allow him to produce on a greater scale and hire more workers. Additionally, Ishmail has recently become a Volunteer Mentor in order to help others realize the benefits of their loans.

I know Ishmail is grateful for the support he has received from his lenders and we are excited to see his business grow and expand!

Thank you,

Taylor
Ghana Country Ambassador
Zidisha

Waiting for my other members for discussion on the way forward on our co-operative union Theme: Co-operation in Honesty.AGENDA The best way forward for the union. Will also take the opportunity to introduce Zidisha to them.

Dear Lenders,

I was happy to meet Ebenezer earlier this week, along with Volunteer Mentor George Bonsu, at his office in Kumasi. Ebenezer works teaching ICT (computer skills) classes to Kumasi youth and repairing computers. (When I arrived he was working on the keyboard of a laptop, pictured below.) He says Zidisha has been helping him a lot, but had a few setbacks last year and fell behind in payments. We were able to reschedule and get him back on track, and he looks forward to paying off this loan and continuing to work with Zidisha’s lenders to grow his business. He is thankful for the support he has received, and we wish him well going forward!

Thank you,

Taylor
Ghana Country Ambassador
Zidisha

to make people look beautiful you should look great also. these are some of the braids I sell that I used to make my self beautiful

Dear Lenders,

I enjoyed meeting Obed on Wednesday, with Volunteer Mentor George Bonsu, at his internet cafe outside of Kumasi.

He gave me a tour of the small café, including the café’s new color printer, computers and accessories he has been able to buy with previous Zidisha loans, and the empty desks where he hopes to house more. He is planning on buying new machines soon in anticipation of the rise in demand that comes along with school vacation. I witnessed this firsthand as a group of enthusiastic schoolchildren still in their uniforms crowded the café at the end of the day - most lacking internet or computer access at home.

The café also offers ICT and computer literacy courses to community members who are less familiar with the technology. Although all-too-frequent government imposed power outages can be problematic and Obed is in the market for a new generator after his old second-hand one has broken.

Obed is a true businessman and professional with lots of ideas, for his own business as well as for Zidisha, and it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to talk with him. He is grateful for the help his lenders have provided in overcoming the challenges of running a computer business in rural Ghana, and looks forward to using Zidisha loans to continue growing his business. We are excited to see what is next!

Taylor
Ghana Country Ambassador
Zidisha

my current business premises

please find the next photo for your perusal.

Zidisha loan has made me pround since it has made me increase my chicks.I had layers and now i have added kenbrew.Thanks zidisha for your support.please find my chicks picture.

I am happy I have completed repaying my second loan with Zidisha. I must admit that I was a bit apprehensive when I got the money since I was trying a new venture and I was not very sure of its success. To my pleasant surprise, my uniform business did sufficiently well and this enabled me to repay the loan on time – in fact before schedule.

The business has grown exponentially and I now have many orders to supply to various schools and I am hoping to get funding again to enable me cope with the high demand. The flip-side of all this is that I have been very busy and I hardly get time to update my dear lenders on my progress. I hope to find time very soon and send you some photos of my work.

Thank you Sven E,Antony provide for to some of the children at my school at reduced cost as away of giving back to the community.I call upon other lenders to come out and lend him,I sure lenders that beings his Community Leader he will not let you down,I only recommend very serious people.

Dear lenders I am asking for your support for my business,it is a very viable business since schools in Kenya are currently opened and the school going children are my clients/customers.Below is pone of my employees serving chips to customers.

Teresah, I am very impressed with the presentation of your business plan and the fact that you have undertaken it to reduce the burden of food costs for the members of your community. You are a stellar example of the potential Zidisha has to benefit not only entrepreneurs but also entire regions. I look forward to hearing about the progress of your latest business venture!

Dear Lenders,

It was really a pleasure to get to meet Prosper yesterday, along with Volunteer Mentor George Bonsu. We met at the school where he works in Swedru, a rural community outside of Kumasi, as a teacher of science and math. Any time he is not at the school, Prosper can be found working on his farm, a bit of a walk from town, where he farms and harvests okra (okro) for sale.

Zidisha loans have allowed Prosper to significantly grow his harvest – making three hectares of land available to him rather than the original one. He then uses these profits to help his own family as well as several needy children he has taken the responsibility to help. He explained that he can finally afford the school fees for one girl, who will start secondary school in Kumasi on Monday. Prosper is also very interested in helping his community generally, and has been pitching in to help with his friend (and fellow Zidisha borrower) Aziz Zakari’s campaign for assemblyman of the combined Wawasi-Swedru district.

It was so wonderful to get to meet and chat with Prosper about his work, passions, and the situation of the community he lives in, and I know he is grateful for the opportunity and support given to him by his Zidisha lenders - they have already made quite an impact in his crops. He hopes to finish paying off his loan in the next week so that he can apply for another one. We wish him all the best!

Thank you,

Taylor
Ghana Country Ambassador
Zidisha

attending my vegetable farm

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank my lenders for the loan i received ealier, it has gone a long way to help me harvest my maize, even though i didnt realise a bumpy harvest, but i thank God and zidisha fraternity for this far i have reached.
I have harvested and stored 16 bags of maize awaiting to be sold, thanks alot

Dear Lenders,

It was a pleasure to meet Atta this past Tuesday, along with Volunteer Mentor George Bonsu. He experienced some trouble last year with repayments and with accessing the website, but we were able to reschedule his loan and get him back on track. Atta is friendly and jovial, and appreciative of the support he has received from Zidisha lenders. Through the use of Zidisha loans, he has been able to boost his business and help support his family, and he looks forward to continuing that relationship with future loans.

Thank you,

Taylor
Ghana Country Ambassador
Zidisha

Dear Lenders,

I had the opportunity to meet with Amo briefly on Tuesday, along with Volunteer Mentor George Bonsu. I am happy to report that, after having his phone stolen, he was able to recover his MTN number! So we were able to reschedule his loan and he hopes to get back on track with repayments after this setback. His loans have made a big difference in helping him increase his profits and fund his education, and he is incredibly thankful to Zidisha lenders for their understanding support. We wish Amo the best!

Thank you,

Taylor
Ghana Country Ambassador
Zidisha

Dear Lenders,

Volunteer Mentor George Bonsu and I were fortunate to be able to meet Aziz on Tuesday, at his office where he works as a graphic designer in Kumasi. We got to take a look at some of his recent work (see the book cover) and meet his coworkers as well (pictured below). Aziz struggled to make payments last year as most of his time and energy was devoted to his campaign.

As you may gather from his profile picture, Aziz is running for Assemblyman of his home district, which comprises the rural communities of Wawasi and Swedru, outside of Kumasi. He explained that his community is frustrated with the lack of support and resources they have received from the government, especially regarding access to water and sanitation – there are only two boreholes (wells) shared between the two communities and with heavy use, one is often broken. The election for assembly will take place in March of this year and Aziz’s priorities are to improve the water and sanitation situation and to set up a public computer lab and ICT training center – most of the community members have no access to computers or the internet at all.

It was really enlightening to get to talk to Aziz about his concerns. We rescheduled Aziz’s loan so that he is back on track. Zidisha has been a big help in allowing him to continue to grow his business while also working to support his community, and he appreciates the support he has received. We wish him the best of luck both in business and in elections come March!

Thank you,
Taylor
Zidisha Team

Behind me are some of the many trucks that park at Kanduyi on their way from the port of Kenya,Mombasa to the landlocked country of Uganda.