Scaling up the distribution of solar lamps to students
Francis Mbewe
Chipata, Zambia
100% repaid
Entrepreneur
Name
Francis Mbewe
Member since
March 2016
On-time repayments
348 installments • 77%
About Me
Growing up in a Village and raised by great grandmother, i studied under a kerosene lamp and every month i missed school due to sickness caused by the fumes from the kerosene lamps. Its an experience i don't wish any child or woman to go through. My great grandmothers meager earning she used to have was mostly spent on my medication, while my uncles were busy abusing my aunties and spending their money on beers. I grew up knowing the challenges women go through. I grew up knowing that when a woman is empowered then the whole village is empowered. I saw it through my great grandmother Sofia and through my aunties.
Its this experience that has shaped my career path. I chose to be a Social Entrepreneur so that i can create opportunities for women and girls. So that i can enable women and girls have equal accesses to products and services that can put them on a road to economic prosperity.
My Business
For the past 3 years i set up Kukula Solar, a social business that seek to distribute 100,000 solar products to rural and peri urban communities of Zambia. 90% of these solar products will be put in the hands of women and girls so that they can be empowered to do more. For girls, to study for longer hours and for women to work for longer hours. Its here at Zidisha were we launched this social business and together we have distributed over 3,000 solar lanterns. We still have 97,000 solar lanterns to distribute, thats why i invite all our lenders here to help us get these life changing products to the women and girls I'm so passionate about!
Loan Proposal
With this loan am requesting i seek to order 65 solar lamps to resale to low income households who are still using kerosene for lighting. These 65 solar lamps will cost me $780 in total. The remaining $20 i will use it with to move the Solar Lamps from my business premises to clients.
This loan will help increase my profits by 73.2% and directly impact 400 families and indirectly 2,400 people!
This loan will not only help me make more profits but it will help students increase their hours of study so that their performance at school can improve. It will also help families save money since the solar lamps only use the sun to charge which is FREE!
The other benefit is that through distributing affordable clean energy products to these low income households we help reducing globe warming hence contributing to building a cleaner and better world for all.
My Videos
Jan 18, 2021: Impacting lives using zidisha loans
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Loan Info
Project Type
Classic Loan
Disbursed amount
$962.41
Date disbursed
Mar 27, 2017
Repayment status
Late
Projected term
30 months
Cost to entrepreneur
Service fee: $26.50
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