Examples of Beneficiaries in Nigeria

Anthonia Okafor

“I am much happier now”

Antho­nia Okafor has been part of a Swis­s­hand-backed group of women in Umuo­ba Anam, since May of 2011, locat­ed 37 km north of Onit­sha and 10 km east of the Niger riv­er. Antho­nia is mar­ried and has sev­en kids. She is oper­at­ing a fish­ing busi­ness. Pre­vi­ous­ly she had faced dif­fi­cul­ties financ­ing food, edu­ca­tion and school fees for her chil­dren, and med­ica­tions. The family’s means of sub­sis­tence relies heav­i­ly on her, as her hus­band is a farmer with­out a steady income. Since she has gar­nered the sup­port of the micro­cre­d­it pro­gramme, she has been able to strong­ly devel­op her busi­ness. The abil­i­ty to safe­ly store her inven­to­ries has decreased the need for fre­quent trav­els to pur­chase goods, through which she has been able to avoid cost­ly trans­porta­tion. This mon­ey she is now able to spend on her chil­dren. The micro­cre­d­it pro­gramme has helped her realise her famil­ial respon­si­bil­i­ties and she claims to have become happier.

Uchenna Okwunwanne

“God has sent us this programme”

Uchen­na Okwun­wanne is mar­ried, has two kids, and like­wise lives in Umuo­ba Anam. She is a seam­stress and wed­ding dec­o­ra­tor. Dur­ing her busi­ness train­ing course before her accom­mo­da­tion of a loan, she became famil­iar with the con­cept of diver­si­fi­ca­tion. And so, she began, in addi­tion to her cloth­ing busi­ness, to make use of her loan by sell­ing home-made cakes, sodas, and water. She also under­stood to rein­vest her prof­its back into her busi­ness. With her sec­ond loan she ful­filled anoth­er long-await­ed dream: she acquired a sec­ond oven as well as sev­er­al seat­ing spaces for rent. Uchen­na is very con­tent with the micro­cre­d­it pro­gramme and claims that God has gift­ed it to those women who wish to help them­selves. In addi­tion, she is the leader of a group of women where she coor­di­nates their activ­i­ties and has achieved con­sis­tent atten­dance of all women along with time­ly pay­ments of their loan instalments.

Chioma Okonkwo

“Soon, I will build my own home”

Chioma Okonkwo is oper­at­ing a snack bar. She is mar­ried, how­ev­er has no chil­dren. She has tak­en in three spe­cial needs peo­ple for whom she cares for. Her income orig­i­nates main­ly from her sale of food and drinks at her small snack-bar, where she sells such goods at low prices. Chioma Oknkwo has been a mem­ber of a women’s group in Umuo­ba Anam since 2012. With her first loan she was able to improve her busi­ness. Now she is plan­ning to expand her range of offer­ings along­side a diver­si­fied menu and addi­tion­al drinks for sale. All of which she has learned in the attend­ed busi­ness train­ing course. Her most promi­nent sense of achieve­ment was realised through her abil­i­ty to acquire bricks, with which she can now grad­u­al­ly build her own home.