Women in Traditional Authority (T/A) Mlolo in Nsanje District are running successful small-scale businesses courtesy of soft loans they obtained from Muona Foundation.
Under the loan facility, women ventured into poultry farming, vegetable and fish businesses around Muona-Fatima.
A caregiver Ruth Mzava from Gooke Village, who teaches at a local community-based childcare centre, said she invested her money into poultry farming.
“I bought five chickens at K100 000. I raised them and now I am selling eggs and chicks. I am planning to buy goats and sheep to diversify my business,” she said.
Another woman Dorothy Mussa from Nalisoni Village said she acquired the loan to start selling vegetables at Fatima Trading Centre.
“I make enough money to support my family. I am looking forward to expanding my business to make more profits,” she said.
Group village head Chapinga thanked the organisation for reaching out with soft loans to women and other groups in the area to empower them economically.
He thanked the organisation for running initiatives in the area such as training special needs teachers, drilling boreholes, maintaining irrigation schemes and imparting knowledge and skills to the youth.
The organisation’s executive director William Allan said they wanted to help women with capital to run businesses.
“We targeted 10 bicycle operators, 10 caregivers volunteers, 46 small-scale businesses and 36 pensioners with the loans,” he said.
Allan said he was impressed to see that some beneficiaries were selling vegetables, fruits, polished rice, fish, farm produce, goat meat, cooking oil and cooked food to generate income.
The organisation is implementing the initiative with support from Stichting Community Muona Malawi from Eindhoven in The Netherlands and the Afrikafreunde from Wolfen in Germany.
