Massamba Diouf used to run a stationary shop for a living,
the profits of which would go to support his wife and two children. During a
turbulent time, when he was facing strong competition, he came to Zidisha for
help. His ultimate ambition was to use the proceeds of the Zidisha loan to
start up a t-shirt and sports shirt business. However, he would need the
clothing equipment first to make such an aspiration a reality. Sam Gant, our Client
Relationship Manager in Senegal, managed to interview Mr. Diouf on the current
state of his affairs:
I'm
a Client Relationship Volunteer in Dakar and I visited Massamba the other day
in his shop. There were basic office and printing supplies in his shop which he
shares with several business partners. What he was most intent on talking
about, however, was the t-shrt press that he purchased with his loan and now
uses to put prints on t-shirts and baseball caps.
He
showed an example of his progress with mastering the press as well as a very
nice Zidisha shirt he recently designed with a Client Relationship Manager. He
seemed to be doing well with his new business and mentioned that advertisement
of his business was spreading slowly but surely, mostly by word of mouth. He
seems most hopeful of making shirts for sporting events like football and
wrestling as well as various festivals and campaigns.
Massamba
lives behind the shop with his wife and two young children. He uses the profits
from the store and his new shirt-printing business to support his family. He
hopes to be able to save up enough with the new profits to buy certain supplies
like expensive printing paper in bulk to cut costs. He also expressed interest
in another loan upon the successful completion of this loan for buying in bulk
for both his t-shirt press business and the boutique.
No comments:
Post a Comment