Project Updates

Thank you Dear Zidisha and Lenders

Dear Zidisha Team and Lenders,
Thank you very much for assisting me financially all the time. You are gradually moving me and my ICT Centre from a deep darkness into the light. By your highly supports, I have started my Distance Learning, and also added brand new (1) uninterrupted power supply and one (1) computer for my centre with the below specification of the System Unit.
MODEL - COMPAQ
PENTIUM - FOUR (4)
HDD -80GB
1.50 GB OF RAM
3.0 GHZ
Attached are the pictures of the items mentioned above.Thank you and God bless you all.

Hello zidisha team, I would like to begin with thanking you a lot for the good work you are doing, offering highly affordable loans to small business people like me.
With the loan of $39 i acquired, i was able to purchase original Discovery batteries. This has boosted my business and attracted more customers who are quality assured.
By the end of February 2015, my net profit had increased by a whole 15% and i expected it to rise up to 20% by the end of this month(March 2015)
I spent the earnings to service the loan, cater for my basic needs, i also bought some books for my niece and used the rest to add some stock to the shop.(universal remotes, bulbs and phone chargers). Thanks a lot Zidisha Team

Thank you very much my dear lenders and zidisha team, I have received the full amount of my loan. I have already bought the cloths and now I have a good clothes stock.
I will keep you informed of the progress. I appreciated your great,unconditional generosity. I'm really overwhelmed by you friends. Thanks once again

I am grateful to Zidisha lenders for advancing me the first loan. It has given an opportunity to handle business in my spares well. Zidisha gave me a loan and immediately I went to increase stock. I bought new tyres for motor cycle, increased tubes, lubricants and other accessories. The customers were amazed as some stock had taken time before I bought them. With the increase of stock customers have trusted me and placing new orders. Thanks to zidisha and now the rainy season is coming customer’s want new tyres to assist in the terrain. I have been given the hope that new stock is coming because I’m running short of the same every now and then

I want to say thank you to all who funded my loan cause they helped me achieve my goal.I now have a small fridge and is helping me and more to that it is saving me from buying firewood to boil the milk and so my profit has increased.Now my business is more efficient and my life more better.

Dear All.

Hello - Thank you all for the opportunity that this platform provides, the loans go a big way to helping our business grow and glow. For instance the puppet theatre i made was a big hit to my clients and with it we were able to teach valuable life lessons to our audience ( kids ) like obedience, kindness, hard work, patience among others.
We are now working on to extend this to school tours and we can be able to teach this in future!
Thank you especially to Josef may you be blessed.

Hi lenders I thank you for the loan you gave me. I appreciate your helping hand. I have been able to buy maize flour, wheat flour and also introduced pishori rice. My customers are also happy about this inventory and they are really enjoying every bit of it. God bless you all God bless Zidisha

with the loan I got I bought carrots seedlings , beans and kales did the land preparation and planting 'this as made my mum busy and hapier , thank you so much for the surport I will send photos once the carrots and beans germinate.

Makan siang bersama keluarga di toko.

Lenders and zidhisa team, how are you today, greeting all the success I hope today is better than yesterday, I also thank you for providing business loans, as usual I until now still selling fast food and yellow rice and supplementary food other. Loans that I can just to supply material for fast food, these loans may afford me finish well. From the results of this sale alone I used to repay the loan from the lender in zidhisa. Congratulations and good luck with your beloved family.

Its been baking hot in Nairobi. My first set of cherry tomato seedlings wilted under the intense heat. My second batch looks more promising and will be planting in a fortnight. Other are a few stand along plants and this is the current crop being sorted and graded for my initial clients.

Thanks to my lenders! I have achieved a lot with the seed capital. Of course I did complete the preliminary tea research survey for my client. With the earnings, I divested into an interesting project. Apart from my normal development consultancy duties and day to day job, I have initiated an "education for sustainable" development project with schools. In this photo, just see one of the schools we visited in Western Kenya. Find my colleagues and I displaying our 'development magazine" we have designed for schools. This is a part time venture. Next in the pipeline will be a very interesting project. Am passionate about it. It will be my pre-masters degree innovation project. I will be partnering with a reknown NGO research institution based in the Newyork-US- and a local research institution to contact research on an organic pesticide, by comparing it with a common commercial pesticide used locally here in Kenya. You will see me on my kale farm, as I will be carrying out the research over an agreed period of time. I will work with my assistants and will create time for this. My next funding need will to supplement my budget for those two interesting projects. Long live Zidisha!

Hi Zidisha i want to appreciate you for lending me the money. I have been able to purchase materials and make new items that i introduced into the market. Amazingly they are selling to my unexpectation,all thanks to you. At least am able to refund the loan and raise a small profit to support the other products that i had been majoring on. Thank you so much.

hallo good people once again i want to thank you for the previous loan ,i bought a small fridge and will now be selling snacks and drinks in my movie library i also bought an external hard disk and i will be updating movies weekly.thank you am looking forward to pay the loan and work hard to enhance my business.

My name is Kerry and I am a Client Relationship Intern for Zidisha in Nairobi, Kenya. Today I had the opportunity to meet Martha, a young single mother who owns a salon in Umoja, a neighborhood of Nairobi.

Martha opened her salon in 2012. Previously she had another salon with sharing ownership with her partner, her now ex's sister. When she and her ex, also the father of her six year old daughter, broke up she also left the salon since the situation was not good. She had to begin all over again and all she had to open her new salon was a mirror and some plastic chairs.

Seeing the salon now, it's incredible how far she has come having really no one to help her. Now there are many chairs, some fancy recliners as well and much of the equipment to run a diversified salon. She offers manicures, pedicures and even has a barber come in so she can also attract male customers. Martha now employs 8 people, most which are family members and friends. One friend who was there styling a customer's hair left the previous salon to go with Martha because she felt loyal to her. Luckily so did a lot of her previous customers, and the business is doing well.

Martha is pleased, but she knows that there are a lot of salons in Nairobi, so in her free time she visits other salons to see what different services they are providing. Martha hopes that with the help of Zidisha she will be able to construct a second room on the back of her salon where she can begin providing massages as well as water plumbing so she won't have to use bucket water to wash customers' hair. She is also thankful to lenders for helping her purchase a new blow dryer so she can dry more than one customer's hair at the same time.

With the profits from her business, Martha knows she may have to use most of them for legal fees. She is currently in a custody battle with her exboyfriend over their child. She doesn't get to see her daughter often, since her ex has been resentful over the break up. This is a tough subject for Martha. She showed me pictures of her daughter, and it's clear that she is constantly on her mind. Even her salon has the name of Marthaleto. Leto is the nickname Martha calls her daughter. Her daughter's full name is Charlotte.

Martha is hopeful. You can tell by the bright colors of her salon, she is an optimistic and postive person, which may be why there are so many people at her salon, even though there is another one right next door. She hopes that with her business she will also be able to return to college and study communications. She wants to improve her English (though it's already very good!) and maybe even visit me one day in California. She is most welcome!

My name is Kerry and I am a Client Relationship Intern for Zidisha in Nairobi, Kenya. Today I had the opportunity of meeting Antony, a borrower who owns a small convenience store in Umoja, a neighborhood of the city.

Antony and I have been trying to meet for a while now, but since his wife gave birth to twin boys three months ago, he has been very understandably busy with a lot on his plate, especially since the twins suffered from pneumonia not too long ago. When we sat down, my first question was about his little boys. Antony told me they are doing very well, though they did go back to the hospital a second time with a cough, but fortunately they were okay and not admitted. Antony has been splitting his time between the store and upcountry where his wife and sons live on his father's land.

Antony has been living in Nairobi and upcountry on and off for the last twenty years. He first moved to Nairobi when he was 13 years old and after high school began working in a factory doing manual labor. Tiring of working for someone else, in 2007 he began a photocopy and print shop and with the profits from shop he was able to attend University to study to be an auto electrician. After graduating from college he started working for General Motors in Nairobi, but after a few months he had to return to his father's farm, since their were familial issues. A man was trying to take advantage of his father during a sensitive time and purchase the land for a very low price. Luckily Antony and his siblings were able to stop that from happening and continue using the land as a home and tea farm. So Antony remained upcountry for a while managing his family's tea farm. He also planted tree tomatoes, but diseases spoiled the crop, and he thought of returning to Nairobi to find better work opportunities.

At this point Antony was already married to his wife. She supported the idea that she would remain upcountry and manage the tea farm, while Antony returned to Nairobi to start his convenience store business. He was assisted by his older sister who gave him the capital to set up the store. The store opened in April and has been growing in inventory and doing well. While I visited at least 10 people came to purchase phone credit, bread, and other items from the store. Antony said when he first came to Umoja, he realized that this area didn't have a small store so it would be the perfect place for his business venture.

Antony talked a bit about the challenges he faces. He says it's difficult to maintain the inventory and finding loans was also challenging. Luckily around a year ago he accidentally discovered Zidisha when Safaricom, a phone network provider, advertised a deal they named Zidisha. When Antony googled Zidisha, he also found our Zidisha and the rest is history. He is incredibly grateful that with the help of lenders he has been able to maintain his inventory, since his own bank would not provide him a loan. He has also used part of the loan to pay for the medical bills of his twin newborns. One day he hopes to begin stocking electrical goods as well as invest in his land upcountry by building a house for chickens.

For now Antony misses his family, but knows that they will live comfortablely with all the profits of the business going to their needs upcountry. He is content living behind the store with no mattress and a simple room. He also looks forward to the next time he will travel to see them. Thank you Antony for a great visit and keep up the good work!

Dear Lenders,
I'm glad this moment for i have completed to pay a plot which was paid through installement by the profit made by Donkey carts, and Dairy Cow.In fact Zidisha should be in the Guiness book of record,if i may asked.Since i join as borrower to this institution,many has been done.Hence you may not be forgotten by my twince son and my the rest of my family.
You'res,
Sammy.

i take this opportunity to thank all the lenders in zidisha team, i have managed to repay my second loan which help me a lot in boosting my business,,
the loan i received i used in adding more stocks to the business,i bought curtain materials and most of it went to the tailoring accessories,
during the period i was repaying the second loan the sales increased since most customers would by almost everything they wanted in one shop unlike before
due to this i managed to buy a heavy commercial sewing machine which worked a lot faster, hence increase in production ,faster delivery leading to increased profits
i was also able to pay my daughter school fees promptly and this has made her improve in her class work since she is not sent home frequently...
i wish to say thank you for your generosity and may God bless you

Zidisha loan has been instrumental in improving my writing career. With the Loan, I managed to install a faster internet connection which has not only saved time but also have increased my output. My earnings have now increased by close to 30 percent and all credit goes to my online lenders who facilitated my business upgrade. Even though there is still a lot to be done in order to optimize my business, the loan that I got has proved to be a significant milestone in achieving my target goals in my writing profession.
I have used the increased earnings to better my livelihood as well as upgrade my workstation. I believe that a better working environment is relative to high productivity, and with time I will manage to achieve a fully fledged office. In the office, the potential to form a team will be high. I trust that my relationship with Zidisha and my online lenders will soar to greater heights.
One of the most interesting things about my neighborhood is the serene environment. As a writer, a quite neighborhood enables me to concentrate on my work in order to ensure that my clients receive quality work in a timely manner. The environment also offers a relaxing moment when I take a walk around when am breaking from writing.
Thank you Zidisha and my lenders for holding my hand. My future looks brighter because you are a part of it.

its the peak of the dry season here, the ground is almost bare, farmers are finding difficult times with their livestock, hope it rains soon. Milk production is relatively to its lowest and prices of milk have almost doubled

I used the loan raised to buy 1 smart phone. I was able to sell the smart phone just within a day and i used the money to buy another phone which sold within a day too. and the process is still on. I have been able to make some profit which I have reinvested it into my business.

Thanks for the last funding that enabled me to buy a full lorry load of hay for my cows. Attached is a lorry load of hay arriving at the farm.

Thank you lenders

The loan has assisted me to plough early and i am waiting for rain to plant my vegetables. Many schools are waiting for my vegetables for tenders.

Thanks to Zidisha lenders who helped me save my business product by funding me to buy a cooler.The cooler has been of great help since milk never spoilt and i was able to purchase more quantity since the storage was convenient thus increasing in profits.

the last loan given i bought feeds for my rabbits and constructed another house for my young rabbits because they could not stay together with the big ones. my increased earnings i used them to take my son to form one and also to pay school fees for my young son. to my family members i was able to help them with some cash when need arose.

My name is Kerry and I am a Client Relationship Intern for Zidisha in Nairobi, Kenya. Today I had the opportunity to meet Jacqueline, a strong independent businesswoman living in Nairobi.

Jacqueline and I met downtown next to her day job where she works as a saleswoman for Dynapharm, a company specializing in natural herb ingredients. This is a networking sales job where employees are encouraged to sell their products as if its their own business earning commision. Jacqueline excels at her job, however some months are better than others, so she is a self described "Multi-tasker" and has been pursuing other business interests as well.

A year ago Jacqueline found that a fertilizer from Dynapharm helped plants grow well organically. She approached a friend who is a farmer and asked him to use the fertilizer. Then she set up meetings with her local chain supermarket, Tusky's, to sell them the organic tomatoes and onions that her friend was growing. The supermarket was very interested since marketing products as organic is starting to become more enticing to customers here in Kenya. This has been a profitable relationship and Jacqueline is proud of her business skills which have proctored this deal. She is also thankful to Zidisha lenders for helping her to stock inventory of the fruits and vegetables so she can continue selling them to the supermarket.

Jacqueline hopes that as she continues to borrow from Zidisha and pay off the loans, she will increase her credit limit to the amount of 200,000KES in order to afford to build her own green house and grow the fruits and vegetables herself. This way she can control all levels of supply.

She also has a third business venture. She has invested in an onine company that is doing well and therefore giving her small weekly returns. She says she is living a comfortable live which makes her very happy since as single mother she is able to provide for her 2 and a half year old son."It's why I wake up in the morning. He motivates me", she told me over coffee. While she is out purusing her career, he stays at a daycare near their home.

Jacqueline is doing well, thanks in part to Zidisha, and looks for ways to give back. Her fourth and for now final project, she volunteers for an organization Good Hope, which helps women start their own businesses and teaches them how to save. Jacqueline was introduced by a friend, and helps teach the classes and offers support. The church funds the women loans and has them pay back after they make profits from their kiosks and over the course of three months as they save, they can triple the amount of the next loan. Over the course of the two years she has volunteered, Jacqueline has seen these women be able to now send their children to school and provide for their families.

We said goodbye since Jacqueline had to run off and collect goods from the store to sell them to her customers. She is a busy woman, but somehow she still makes it home at 5pm to cook dinner. Her favorite dish is Pilau, a rice and meat dish from Kenya. She also likes to travel, spend time in nature, swim and go to the dance hall. She is a superwoman.

Hi my lenders,thank you so so much for having provided funds to me when i was in need.i was able to purchase the calculators and several learning materials and supplied .now they have made the payment and very soon ill be adding more of the items ready for the next supply.its great that i associated with you God bless you .

Dear lenders, I was pleasantly surprised to see the first loan you gave me. It came at a much needed time. Thank you.

I sincerely appreciate working with you in Zidisha team. Am able to buy mature pigs and sell at a higher price, making a profit for my living and loan payment. I assure you I will do my best to merit the trust you've placed in me.
God bless you. thanks!

Dear wonderful Lenders and Zidisha, in fact I really appreciates your support of expanding my Mobile Money Business. I have bought extra
two Mobile phones for other Mobile Money networks, which include Tigo
Cash and Airtel Money.Thank you very much for your support.
My customers are also feeling comfortable when they come to me and transact.

Hi Zidisha and my dear lenders.Its me Kundu D Mwanziia, i am so happy that you trusted me again to help me achieve my goals.I am glad that i received the second loan early this morning of Tuesday March 10th.I am excited to be able to make another step with your help.The first loan enabled me to strengthen my motorbike and i even managed to boost my savings for buying a new one.I hope to be able to do it in two months.I finally bought my small sister an Oxford dictionary,the kind she always wanted,she was so happy she cried.I never had tat chance but i'm glad i can make it happen for her.My brothers are doing well in school and i am able to pay their school fees now that my motorbike is stronger and i have increased my earnings.I am shopping for pay-a-ride bicycles which i will add to my list of transport machines and will save the money earned from these to go towards clearing my two brothers education.I also boosted my wifes vegetable stall and she may move into her own shop in a month.I am so happy and have never been so thrilled.I had been turned away by the banks which charge very high interests on loans but i am glad i found people whom i can confide in and who can help me reach my goal faithfully.I hope to do bigger things and firmly get my family out of poverty.I am especially so happy for my small sister,i am her parent now and will do anything for her.Thank you lenders.Every positive thought and deed towards others is a blessing that changes whole families and villages.

Thank you so much my lenders. This is how I started spending the money that you lent me:
I bought two goats- one pregnant she-goat, that cost me about kshs. 5000 ( about 63 dollars), and a he-goat that cost me kshs. 6500 ( about 81 dollars). The she- goat is indigenous and the he-goat is a cross-breed one.

I have a the best way of selling my books, it is through youth trainings! this is magnificent!

Dear lenders.
I appreciate you for the effort that you made to fund my first loan proposal. I thank God because the loan helped me so much to realize my dream.I bought cosmetic for my beauty shop which at long last increased my income at a double rate.that is why i was able to repay my loan on time.Therefore am coming to you again, Kindly find a good reason to fund me again. I am humbled to be associated with you guys!thanks..

Zidisha loan helped me buy water tanks -Since i have plenty of water i'm currently doing my modeling of my clay brooder heaters for warming chicks,clay rabbit drinkers and feeders at the comfort of my home .I have also set a small demonstration farm to show my customers on the best use of my clay rabbit products.Water expenses now very minimal -that money goes to other uses like you can see! Community around knows they have a place to learn about best tips on poultry and rabbit keeping.Sometimes in future i would need a motorbike for easy movement when i need to reach my customers during delivery of my items.

thank you so much zidisha team, my sister now has joined high school at ST. PETER'S HIGH SCHOOL. i never thought she could make it due to the poverty line we had in our family, but i thank zidisha lenders for all this, for their loan has made my business to cater for all this due to profit increase and investments. God bless you zidisha lenders.

I am very grateful this day because of the loan the last loan helped me so much i bought a motor bike which i use to transport people and goods and so it has increased my income for family it has also helped me to pay school fees from that income. During this dry season many people around my area do not have water i am also using the motor bike to to fetch water and that is also added income for my family, now for new loan i know it will help me to boost my business. I take this opportunity to thank the Zidisha lenders for the loan. Thank you very much

To lenders and zidhisa thanks to a loan that you have provided, it has been my life loan increase business capital of purchasing procurement of Surabaya has arrived 2 days ago.

Translated by     Show original

Kepada para pemberi pinjaman dan zidhisa terima kasih dengan pinjaman yang telah anda berikan, pinjaman itu sudah saya pakai menambah modal usaha yaitu pembelian pengadaan barang dari Surabaya telah tiba 2 hari yang lalu.

Dear lenders,it amazing how my first loan has improved my boutique business.The overwhelming news is that Lenders on zidisha platfotm have really been helpful to me.Who on this earth would fund an unknown borrower?,absolutely nobody,yet my lenders took the risk to fund my $100 loan.I say am greatful to you all and will never let you down.Business is doing amazingly awesome.
As a young Marketing graduate I am always identifying new business opportunities. I have currently left my boutique business to a brother of mine in Ghana for about two weeks nows,I am currently in Togo to purchase electronic gadgets like Home Theaters,laptops etc for one of my new business.
infact it all courtesy zidisha.I need more money to invest into my new business and so therefore I thank God I have maintained a 100% credit rating to enable me apply for quite a higher loan for my new business.

Thank you once again zidisha team and all the lendours for the help you are giving small business men like us keep growing, my business is growing and that I can see now a better future. I used the loan to buy stock of maize flour of15 us dollars, cooking fat of 5 us doll, one grade of soda and juice at a cost of 10 us dollars and and the remaining 10 us dollars for buying potatoes.The profit increased by 200 Kenya shillings that about 2 us dollars per day, the profit I got help me to pay the remaining school fees, thank you zidisha.

I have enjoyed the loan thanks to Zidisha, my stationary went up and has resulted into steady cash flows into the business. The business has improved significantly and am hoping that the next loan will expand the station and machine to take technology to the next level. Thanks Zidisha you build the dreams.

My first loan to me was like a dream come true, I' bought an extra computer machine which has made me yield an additional income of approximately 4,500 per month. in my cyber cafe, an additional computer machine means additional income and I'm so proud of all lenders who did play part in this and the whole Zidisha fraternity at large for making my dream come true.
Thank you once more.

let me start by thanking the zidisha community for the support they gave me by lending me the money. i invested the money wisely as i had planned- renting a shop, increasing new inventory and employing somebody to run my home supplies shop for me. this has really boosted my business as i am now able to earn double the initial profit. this can be seen from my ability to settle the first loan without any challenges. i confidently take this chance to place the second application as my business has proofed to be able to make enough profit for reinvestment, paying shop rent, paying the attendant and above all repaying the loan successfully. it is improving really fast, thank you again and again. may the lord bless you abundantly, to help people the more.

My name is Kerry Tiedeman and I am a Client Relationship Intern for Zidisha in Nairobi, Kenya. Today I had the opportunity of meeting with Nelson, the waste management extradorinaire at his office just outside of Nairobi.

Nelson has been working in Waste Management since he was seven years old and sorted trash out of dump sites to sell food remnants to people rearing pigs and other item for some money. He is originally from Dandora, an estate with one of the biggest dump sites in Kenya. He continued with waste management in highschool when he realized what the trash was doing to the environment. He began an organization called the Domestic Garbage Collection Services with ten of his classmates. They began by serving the municipal county voluntarily, since the county itself was not doing the job well. The municipal lent out their trucks and Nelson and his group set up bins and went about collecting the trash when the bins were full. The people in the community grew to depend on this service and soon the organization became a business and they began charging them a monthly service fee. Nelson is a true entrepreneur, he created a need and then began charging.

During this time period, Nelson applied for a 3 month course on waste management given by the United Nations and was accepted. He said the course had a huge impact on how he operates his business. He learned how he should be collecting the trash as well as the payment. Nelson continued with the business in Dandora, until a local cartel demanded payoffs. He denied them and conflict began. He said there was gunshots and people were hurt, so he decided to move himself and his business to Nairobi.

Starting all over again was a huge challenge. And in the beginning he sold Mandazis (fried dough) in the mornings while providing security services to apartment buildings at night to earn the capital for starting the business again. Now, Nelson has not only restarted the business, but grown it to the point where he has joined up with 20 other waste management owners in two areas of Nairobi to form Githukah. This way, since they are all private companies, they are more secure if the government comes in to regulate business. Now there is official documentation and agreements.

I walked with Nelson on his runs to deliver the plastic bags he distributes to his customers as well as collect money. He has great relationships with all his customers and it was fun to walk around with them. He told me, "It's going to get hot" since we were walking during the high sun in his village. I told him I can handle it, though my skin has a harder time with it. (I'm very pale). We also visited his wife and baby girl. Next to his home is his stall, where he sells plastic to companies that crush it and reuse it for new materials. He also buys the plastic from kids like his 6 year old self. He uses a weight scale that he purchased with the help of Zidisha Lenders. He also used the loan from Zidisha to pay for the stall space where he sells the plastic. There wasn't any left when I visited, since the broker had just picked up all the plastic the day before. Nelson is waiting for the check, but all a good sign that business is doing well. He hopes that with more loans from Zidisha he will be able to purchase a plastic crusher machine and a molding machine, so he can stop selling plastic and actually manufacture new items like cups and child's toys.

Nelson also volunteers his time for a USAID project that empowers local youth. While walking around we met some other members who work on the project. And at Nelson's house while i was playing with his adorable daughter he showed me a brochure of what they do. Nelson has a lot of projects and a lot of energy. He wanted to make sure I saw every aspect of his business as well as the different shops in his neighborhood. We ate at a great local spot. I told him it was the longest amount of time I had ever spent with a borrower. So now the record is 5 hours. This was 5 hours very well spent!

My name is Kerry and I am a Client Relationship Intern for Zidisha in Nairobi, Kenya. I had the opportunity to meet Theresia on the outskirts of Nairobi at her elementary school last week.

I was very excited to see her school. It can be especially fun, because being a visiting foreigner, the kids are usually very excited to see you and have a story to tell, since it's not every day they see a "Mzungu". This day did not disappoint. I met Theresia and I introduced myself to each classroom. There were many giggles from the 205 students ranging from ages of 3 to 12.

Theresia has been a teacher since 1998 after moving to Nairobi from Kisumu County in western Kenya. She worked a private school for a couple years and then received her ECDE (Early Child Development Education) while working at the same time. Then in 2011 she continued her education and received her college diploma.

Theresia began theschool in 2001 with her salary from the private teaching job. She saw the need for a school in the community she lived that was more affordable for the local families. Her school is private, but the fees are 800KES/month, which is a little less than $10. Public schools in Kenya are few and far between so Theresia has provided a great option for the members of her community.

She began the school with one employee and five children. One of the five students has done so well that she was awarded a scholarship for a prestigious national school from Equity Bank, a company which will sponsor her all the way through University. Theresia feels extremely proud of her former student and has been slowly adding grades since those five preschoolers. This is in large part due to the help of Zidisha lenders. She has used her loans to increase the number of classrooms and accomodate more children and now employs 10 teachers. She hopes with furthur loans she will be able to build a second story and add more classrooms. The school is growing with the kids.

Theresia has taken a piece of land and created a community. It is easy to see how she is capable of doing this. She is warm and caring. We visited her house which is next door to the school. She offered me one of her chickens, (I said I had nowhere to keep it) and while I was there some of the school children came over and she gave them cups for water. I was even able to get a ride back to town with her brother in his police bus. I left during recess, and all the children were outside playing on the giant field next to the classrooms. They looked very happy.

My name is Kerry Tiedeman and I am a Client Relationship Intern for Zidisha in Nairobi, Kenya. Today I had the opportunity of meeting Joshua at his art studio just outside of Nairobi County.

Joshua has worked as an artist for over twenty years. He moved to Nairobi in 1989 o look for work from Kisumu, which is city in Western Kenya. When Joshua moved he found a job painting at African Heritage, which began in 1973 as a producer and seller of African handicraft and artwork. After years of working for different outlets painting and constructing different types of handicrafts, he finally opened his own studio partnering with a friend he met at African Heritage.

Joshua and his partner Samson's studio is on the roof of an apartment building in the outskirts of Nairobi. It has an incredible view of the surrounding neighborhood. It's a small shed and walking in there are olive tree and sandstone bowls, giraffe pencil holders, spoons, vases and many other handicrafts all either already painted or awaiting for either Joshua, Samson or Samson's cousin to paint them with incredible designs of animals and African sunsets.

Normally Joshua and his partner receive orders from art brokers which then sell the items at local and international markets to tourists. In order to finance the purchase of the bowls or spoons, Samson would have had to depend on advances from the brokers, which made it easier for brokers to pay them lower prices for the items. Fortunately with the help of Zidisha lenders, Joshua can purchase the items beforehand and have more control over setting prices. This is leading him and his partner to think of cutting out the middlemen and head to the markets on their own, as well as find international buyers. (So if anyone is interested) Their pieces can be custom made and are truly beautiful. Before I left the studio I had ordered two bowls and asked them to paint a specific design I had seen on their other pieces and they happily obliged. They also have a blog and facebook page to attract buyers.

Joshua's wife also is an entreprenuer and with the profits from his studio and the cybercafe she runs, they are able to support their children. It was actually his wife, Dorkas who introduced him to Zidisha. She met a former Client Relationship Intern in a financial meeting. Dorkas is from the coast and since I had just come back from Mombasa, we talked about the great food and the beautiful sea. She met Joshua here in Nairobi at church. I am starting to think I need to go to church because so far that is where the majority of the borrowers I have met have met their significant others.

Both Joshua and Dorkas are optimistic about their businesses and hope to grow and expand them. They are very grateful to Zidisha lenders for helping the purchase the materials they need to run sucessful businesses.

This is me with my loved ones after attending church .

Hi lender i thank you all for making my business grow. Out of buying the digital camera have started printing photos using my Epson stylus RX 620 an out of what i get from printing passports , 4 by 6 photos, clients always ask for A4 size.This made me to start buying few photo frames which are selling well. All this have increase my income by about 14 dollas in a week. Am looking forward for the next loan which am now planning to buy more photo flames in bulk so that i get the flames at a wholesale price which is cheaper than buying at retail price. Again God bless you all

I did not anticipate that the funds would have such an impact in my life and that of the orphaned children, but am glad it has. The shed that I built is very accessible and I spend most of my working days there. The children are happy because they can now buy books and some supplies that they need for school and a few other items. Am glad to report that the business is doing good and is impacting those it intended to reach in the best way possible. Thank you to my lenders and it is my hope that it grows more.