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With the help of a local MRDF partner in Tanzania, communities are being equipped with the resources and expertise to set up their own small scale businesses. Theresia (pictured) has started a sucessful rice processing enterprise.   With Mount Kilimanjaro dominating the landscape, the north-east of Tanzania is arguably one of the most beautiful parts of Africa. But it is also home to some of the world’s poorest people.   MRDF is supporting a local partner here to establish and strengthen small-scale enterprises within communities. The project provides training and resources in business management, entrepreneurship and finance. What is most important about its work is the focus on women. In many communities women are unable to take out loans in order to start businesses, so they are mostly dependent on casual labour, and earn less than 70p a day. But with support from the project, more and more women are setting up successful small businesses.

MRDF Programme manager Nick Burn recently visited the project, and said: ‘The biggest successes have been with the women, who have proved to be enterprising and open to what the partner is offering. Many of them are widows and amongst the most vulnerable members of the community, so the project has made a real difference to their lives. Something as simple as providing basic training in pricing, costing and budgeting has proved to be invaluable.’

 

One of the people who has experienced the impact of the project is Theresia Ngowi. A mother of eight children, she discovered she was HIV positive in 2003, since when she has been taking anti retroviral drugs (ARVs). Theresia was a seasonal labourer and did not earn enough to feed her family, so.the leaders of her village identified her as someone who would most benefit from the training on offer.

 

After a week of intensive tuition, Theresia was able to produce a plan for starting her own small business. She now buys un-hulled rice from farmers, processes and sells it. She says: ‘The project has literally saved my life. Before I didn’t have enough food to eat, so even the ARVs weren’t helping me. Now I am happy and healthy.’