Comsip empowers small businesses in Mulanje

Beneficiaries of Community Savings and Investment Promotion (Comsip) Cooperative Union in Mulanje have commended the organisation for empowering them with capital to start businesses.

Speaking on Tuesday during a media tour of the beneficiaries in Traditional Authority (T/A) Nkanda in the district, Comsip chief executive director Tennyson Gondwe said they are empowering vulnerable communities to graduate them from poverty to sustain their livelihoods.

“The beneficiaries have been trained in business management and other livelihood components such as nutrition, actionable climate smart agriculture and water and sanitation hygiene,” he said.

A beneficiary Eliza Oloto, 24, who is growing tomato through irrigation, said the business will transform her family’s livelihood.

“This has been something that my family and I have wanted to do for so long, but we were incapacitated due to lack of funds to operationalise our wishes,” she said.

Another beneficiary, Janet Nabangoni, 36, from T/A Mabuka, said she used the money to open a kiosk where she sells salt, sugar and eggs, among others.

The single mother of four  said the business has helped her to pay school fees for her children.

Each beneficiary received K121 429.76, which is half of K242 859.52. The other chunk will be disbursed after Comsip is satisfied that the initial disbursement was used for the intended purpose.

Comsip is implementing the Building Sustainable Livelihoods for Ultra-Poor project with Financial Access for Rural Markets, Smallholders and Enterprise (Farmse), a seven-year development programme.

At the end of the project, about 4 000 people are expected to graduate from extreme poverty in Mulanje and Phalombe districts.