I am a village-raised girl. I would look for firewood in the evening after school, and fetch water from the river. I used to till our family garden every Saturday and every other weekday during the school holidays. I grew up hard and was taught that I had to be tough to survive life.

I am the firstborn of six siblings. I somehow managed to complete secondary school after countless struggles because of my family’s lack of finances. My parents are peasant farmers and raising six of us, I notice, is a tall order for them.

Life is an amazing journey that wows me every day. I am glad for the joys around me, the sounds and wonderful moments that I share with those around me.

The uniqueness of my society is that it embraces new things. Studying online is not popular yet but I want to embrace it. It is common for girls to get into marriage immediately after school. A girl not in college is thought of as a timewaster.

When I finally have children, I hope to help them avoid the agonies I have gone through. I hope to help them get great opportunities that will help them change their society.

I enjoy braiding as a hobby. I also like watching soap operas.

My business will be about food production. I want to bake bread and prepare meals for office workers, market people and workers at construction sites. I will start with baking bread then expand to regular meals if the business model allows it.

Bread is a must-have as a staple breakfast food for most local families. It is cheap and ready to eat.

I chose bread making as a business because bread has a high demand in urban areas. It is also easy to make, yet only very few local families get to make it at home. Consequently, the start-up cost is low, as well as the operational costs. It was cheap for me to learn to make it as I only the only extra cost was the purchase of data bundles and I taught myself via YouTube.

A bale of bread flour for $50, bread baking pans for $150, oil, and yeast and sugar for $100 are part of the start-up costs I need. Since I can not afford an oven yet, I will use open heat in something called a ‘jiko’ (stove) and charcoal briquettes. I will earn $0.10 on every piece of bread I sell, and I can sell 30 loaves a day at the start. If I do this consistently, I will earn close to $100 a month, for a start. There is potential to earn over $500 a month when I scale up.

I will save up the income I earn so I can purchase a computer. I will also afford to pay for online certifications and study online. I will also reinvest in the business to scale up and eventually hire assistants to help me run the business. That way, I will offer employment and touch some other family’s life. As my life improves, so will that of my siblings and family.

I have now become better at baking bread and have expanded to serving lunch to office workers. With this loan, I will invest in bulk ingredients so I can keep my production costs low. Demand for our products is also growing, so we look to maximising returns so that we can save and afford a bigger production space soon. If I keep my production costs low, I will be able to afford hiring one more assistant. I will have provided an employment opportunity for someone in my community. I am also saving my profits so I can purchase a computer. I have done free courses n Coursera, and now I feel motivated to take an accounting course online. This loan is a stepping stone towards financial stability and long term business sustainability.