An Update from Madame Sarr

Dear Lenders,

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Mme Sarr at her house in the neighborhood of Parcelles Assainies, about an hour away from Central Dakar. Mme Sarr lives with her mother, her two sons and her daughter, as well as two brothers and their respective wifes and children.

Mme Sarr is very proud to be one of the first Zidisha borrowers in Senegal. Since her workshop was demolished she has been working from home. Mme Sarr employs a tailor, Mr. Maguette Olle Ndoye, who does most of the sowing. Mr. Ndoye is pictured smiling next to Mme Sarr's new sowing machine.

Mme Sarr used part of her most recent loan to buy her new Singer 2OU33 sowing machine, which she uses to produce traditional Senegalese dresses, or boubous, using a technique called ‘Pakistani embroidery’, which yields higher quality products. Clients now come to her house to admire her boubous and place orders. Two of her nieces were very eager to be photographed wearing them; their pictures are included below.

Mme Sarr has also started to make ‘ecosacs’ for a local NGO which is planning to commercialize them. Ecosacs are devices made of polyester and tissue that are used to save gaz. A pot with boiling water and rice can be taken out of the fire and put inside the ecosac where the food will continue to cook until it’s done. When the ecosac is closed tightly around the pot, it keeps the heat in. Mme Sarr is provided the materials, and earns 8,000 FCFA (16$) for each completed ecosac. She’s made some 70 of them over the past two months and she is hoping for bigger orders.

In the future, Mme Sarr hopes to be able to buy the equipment necessary to produce using more techniques, including ‘petit fil’ and ‘gros fil’. She would like a big workshop downtown, with many employees, from which to produce and market her attractive boubous. 

Marc
Client Relationship Manager

A little help can take you a long way

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.

Catching Up with Djibril at Senegal's Premier Retail Shop

The last time we meet up with Djibril Pouye he was selling various electronic devices in his shop. Now, in addition to selling iPads, laptops, and cellphones, Djibril has added chic perfumes to his stock for resale! Djibril's high-end products allows him to differentiate himself from stiff competition. Even though he sells fancy products, Djibril still only earns about $9.66 per day. While he isn't earning much money, Djibril can still afford to continue paying for his brother's schooling. Check out what Sam Gant, one of our Client Relationship Interns in Senegal, had to say about meeting up with Djibril recently:

Dear Lenders,

My name is Sam Gant and I'm currently one of the Client Relationship Managers working here in Dakar, Senegal. Today I got to meet with Djiby, an extremely enterprising young man who took time out of his hectic workday in Dakar's bustling Alize market to meet with me at his home in Parcelles. Djiby has recently expanded the products of his mobile business to include different perfumes, such as Lacoste, Black XS, and Allure, which e buys in bulk at Sandaga market for 1000 CFA per bottle and sells to his customers for a 50% markup. Often clients will request specific products that he will find for them, but following his partnership with Zidisha Djiby is able to do more business by having a wider range of stock on hand.

Djiby lives on thin margins, paying an average of 3000 CFA per day on food and transport, in addition to the 25,000 per month he pays for housing-- meanwhile, he earns 5000 CFA on the average day. He is very committed to his family, and turns over part of his money to them to help his brother continue his education. He thanks you for your patience and confidence in him, and hopes to apply for another loan once he has repaid this one. 

An education that paid off

Studying clothing production for four long years has surely led to fruitful results for young businesswoman, Oureye Faye, who started a sewing business after receiving her diploma. Personal and economic hardships such as her father passing away and her household ceiling breaking did not deter her willpower to thrive financially, especially in her efforts to support her four children and the families of her brothers and sisters. It is imperative that she gets back to her sewing space as soon as possible to generate income for her family. She is using her Zidisha loan to achieve this objective, along with investing in fabrics and expanding her workshop. One of our Client Relationship Interns, Sam Gant was able to interview the ambitious Mrs. Faye about her business plans, the details of which are provided below:

My name is Sam Gant and I'm currently one of the Client Relationship Managers active in Senegal. On Thursday June 14th I stopped by Mme Faye's atelier in Parcelles 12, a small workshop attached to her family's house with bookshelves full of brightly colored fabric and a very fat rabbit dozing under the footpedal of her sewing machine. Mme Faye is garrulous and savvy, and explained to me that she had divided her Zidisha loan into three parts so as not to use it all to quickly. Due to the fact that many clients buy BouBous on credit, she needs to have a significant stock of capital to buy fabric to make new clothes while waiting to be paid for completed products. She sells between four and six boubous per month for between 10,000 and 15,000 CFA depending on the complexity of the order and her relationship with the client. She is able to finish elaborate garments in a matter of days, a cabability born of experience (she explained that she has been making traditional clothes since the age of 15, 15 years of experience by now.)

Although she supports a large family and the profit margins of couture are thin, Mme Faye's Zidisha loan allows her to dramatically expand her client base and receive income more regularly. I hope to post a few photos I took of her and her family over the next few days. If you comment she is also planning to put up a post sometime next week and I'm sure she would be happy to answer specific questions.

Being the change I wish to see..

Over the last several years, the methodologies of microfinance institutions have enabled the provision of financial services to those living in extreme hardship and poverty. Having been a resident of Bangladesh for the first 18 years of my life, I remember reading and watching the news about Dr. Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank and how his vision that small loans could make a substantial change in the lives of the rural poor had changed my country’s social and activist makeup. In this day and age, free market enterprise might not create opportunities for one to attain a high standard of living, given the exponentially high population growth in most developing countries. Due to myriad of reasons, I became drawn to the concept of microfinance from my high school years, especially in its core mission to elevate poor people.

I joined Zidisha to nurture this passion of mine, alongside my economic development and film production interests. Being a communications associate has allowed me to correspond directly with clients from Senegal and Kenya, in order to help them discuss the benefits they have been reaping from their loans. I firmly believe that Zidisha’s free-flowing commentary modes between lender and borrower will escalate microfinance’s reach across international borders. Technology and social media has seeped into our everyday codes of conduct and performances, and microfinance industries’ exploitations of these mediums will surely lead to more improved and transparent methods of communication between lenders and borrowers. I have had a fulfilling experience so far in being a part of Zidisha’s team while balancing my heavy coursework at college. I hope to see Zidisha grow and become a beacon of light in the field of microfinance. 

Dakar's Apple Store

Monsieur Pouye

Meet Zidisha borrower Djibril Pouye. Dijibril is from Dakar, Senegal, and is in the electronics business. He sells everything from mobile telephones to laptops (even iPads!). However, because his stock is costly, he needed some additional capital to purchase stock. That is when the Zidisha lenders gave Djibril a loan that helped him reach his goals!

Our very own Madeline met with Djibril in Dakar this past week. Check out her impression of Djibril and his shop in her own words below:

Hi Lenders, 

I was able to visit Djibril (Djiby) last week at his electronics business. He and his brother own a small shop located in a bustling indoor electronics market. They sell cell phones, but also secondhand laptops, iPads, and other specialty electronics. With many other vendors surrounding them, Djiby's business differentiates itself from competition by selling higher-end electronics. Currently, Djiby says the iPhone is their best seller. 

They are currently paying back their first loan and are eager to finish the payments quickly in order to take out a second, bigger loan to support their growing business.

Fashion in Senegal

Astou Diop is a borrower from Dakar, Senegal. While studying, Madame Diop learned how to sew. A few years later she started her very own sewing and tailoring business! This young mother uses her business to support her family. Madame Diop wants to use her Zidisha loan to open a traditional boutique to sell her goods and increase her profits.

Our in country Client Relationship Manager Stephen met with Madame Diop recently. Here is what Stephen wrote on their encounter:


Hello lenders,

Yesterday, I met with Madame Astou Diop who lives in the Cambarene neighborhood close to the beach. She is married and has one daughter. She lives with her father, mother, three brothers and one sister. She and her brothers are the main providers for the family. One brother lives in Spain, one is a doctor and the other works in commerce. They split the expenses of the household. 

Business
She talked a lot about her tailoring and sewing business. She buys her fabric from Sandaga and makes boobas, scarves and shoes. She sometimes makes other items depending upon the demand. She is very content with her progress and mainly works in her neighborhood selling her products to her friends.Unfortunately, her funds are only enough to repay her loan because she doesn't have much surplus.

Future
Once Madame Diop pays off this loan she hopes to take out another one and find a space for a small boutique. She hopes to display her clothing possibly at one of the large markets around Dakar for more exposure.

Stephen
Client Relationship Manager

Some of Madame Diop's goods.

A Brief History of the Recent Political Situation in Senegal

Recently, unrest in Senegal has caused several Zidisha borrowers to undergo extenuating business circumstances. Many lenders may not be familiar with the current political situation in Senegal. So I thought it would be beneficial to offer a brief history of recent developments in Senegalese politics.

Current Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, of the Senegalese Democrat Party (PDS), has been in office since winning in a second round election in 2000. After two terms, President Wade is seeking an unprecedented third term as President, despite wide spread political unrest.

Initially, presidential terms in Senegal were limited to seven years. In 2001 Senegal adopted a new constitution, this limited presidential terms to 5 years. However, this new standard would not be put into place until President Wade's first term was over in 2007.

President Wade

President Wade successfully won his bid for a second term as president on October 15, 2006. By successfully winning the majority during the first round, President Wade avoided a runoff election. The main opposition party to the PDS, the Rewmi Party, led by former Prime Minister (formally under President Wade) Idrissa Seck, and other presidential candidates from minority parties, disputed these results and ultimately boycotted the elections to the National Assembly (Senegalese equivalent to the U.S House of Representatives), and the Senate. President Wade was eventually sworn in for his second term on April 3, 2007.

In July 2008, the Senegalese National Assembly reversed the five year presidential term limit back to seven years. This would not take effect during President Wade's second term as president. It did however, open the possibility of Wade running for a third consecutive term.

On September 17, 2009, it was announced that President Wade was indeed seeking a third term as president. On January 27, 2012 the constitutional amendment, sought by President Wade, was approved by the constitutional congress, allowing him to run for a third term. This announcement brought widespread political unrest, and counter-protests by those loyal to President Wade, deepening political divisions in the country. The presidential elections took place on February 26, 2012. Incumbent candidate Wade won the majority of votes, but not the majority needed to avoided a runoff election. The runoff election between President wade, and second place finisher Macky Sall, are scheduled to take place on March 25, 2012.

During this time of unrest, many Zidisha borrowers have been having a difficult time. Protests are preventing some of our borrowers from conducting business as usual, severely reducing their income. Others, in areas away from the protests, are also experiencing slower sales, which are attributed to fear of further political unrest and the potential for violent protests. We continue to monitor the situation in Senegal, and hope for the unrest to settle after the results of the runoff election are announced and verified. We will continue to update the Zidisha community on the situation in Senegal.

The Next Bill Gates

Aissatou Traore is a borrower living in Dakar, Senegal. Madame Traore is a widowed mother  who works to support her son and mother. Mme. Traore is a partner with the American company Forever Living, based in Arizona. Forever Living sells its aloe vera, and various other health products, through a network of independent distributors across the globe. Madame Traore sells the Forever Living products in her surrounding area to a number of customers.

Mme. Traore used her Zidisha loan to purchase $780 worth of inventory from Forever Living in order to boost her income. Tragically, thieves broke into  her home and stole all of the inventory she'd purchased. This did not stop the resolute Mme. Traore.

Read more about Madame Traore from Zidisha's own Director Julia Kurnia, who recently wrote about their meeting in Senegal.

Dear all,

I was fortunate to have the occasion to meet with Madame Traore at the Senegal headquarters of Forever Living, a direct selling company that produces aloe vera and other natural health products. Forever Living is based in Arizona, but markets its products through a worldwide network of tens of thousands of independent distributors, including Mme Traore.

Mme Traore is the sole breadwinner for her elderly mother and fourteen-year-old son, who she hopes will have the chance to go to university in Europe or the US someday. She has a genius for marketing, and our conversation soon turned to the benefits of her products. She gave a riveting presentation, skillfully weaving international statistics, personal experience and client success stories into a mesmerizing narrative that left me thoroughly convinced that aloe vera toothpaste is, after all, a must-have staple of good oral health. 

Mme Traore used her Zidisha loan of $780 to purchase a large inventory of Forever Living products, which ought to have boosted her earnings substantially. Unfortunately, most of the inventory was lost to a thief who broke into her home and stole her stock before she had the chance to sell it. Completely out of money to buy new stock but undeterred, Mme Traore contacted her best clients one by one and offered a deal: she would give them a special discount if they would agree to pay in advance for the products, rather than upon delivery. She used the advances to restart selling, at a profit margin that was razor thin due to the discounts. She makes up for the narrow profits with volume: her notebook contains the names of several hundred clients, many of whom are located in rural villages a day's journey from Dakar city. On the days she "goes into the bush" to deliver her products to the villages, Mme Traore wakes up at four in the morning to prepare the day's meals for her fourteen-year-old son, and returns home as late as one o'clock the following night. This strategy has enabled Mme Traore to slowly reconstitute her working capital, while also making regular repayment installments on her Zidisha loan, which is now 78% repaid.

She seemed completely undeterred by all of these obstacles. By way of explanation, Mme Traore cited the example of Bill Gates: he started on a small scale as well, and she is simply doing the same. She is a voracious reader. On the day we met, she was reading a French translation of "The Leader in You" by Dale Carnegie. Mme Traore said she was inspired by Mr Carnegie's idea that there is a "mine of gold" inside each one of us, and that the best way to fully realize our potential is to develop our own business. She values her freedom, and says that nothing can stop her from reaching her ambitions.

Best,

Julia Kurnia
Director, Zidisha Inc.

Future Plans...

Ouréye Faye is an entrepreneurial mother from Dakar, Senegal. She not only supports her three daughters and her son, but also the families of her brothers and sisters. Being the oldest member of her family carries many responsibilities! Mrs. Faye studied dressmaking, knitting, and embroidery, she earned degrees for each. After receiving her degrees she started her own sewing company making boubous (see picture).

Our in-country Client Relationship Manager, Stephen, recently wrote about his meeting with Mrs. Faye. Read about their encounter below:




Hello Lenders,

Friday, I had a wonderful experience with Oureye Faye. She apologized for not finishing her last payment sooner but wants to thank the lenders from the bottom of her heart for everything that she has been able to accomplish with this loan. 

Business
From the 400,000cfas loan that she received with the help of Zidisha, Madame Faye was able to buy a new sewing machine which she uses for her booba making business that is a very popular industry in Dakar. She buys her fabric from Mali because it’s the best quality and she makes boobas and sells the rest of the fabric in Senegal. She now has three sewing machines

Education.
Madame Faye has also used her money to invest in education. In Senegal, the public education system has a reputation for not being the most efficient in terms of quality and outcome. With the funds Madame Faye has earned, she has been able to put her 4 children through private school. Even though Madame Faye is married, she is the main provider of her household. She explained to me that every morning she wakes up at 5 a.m. and works until 9 p.m. The majority of her earnings are for her children, her main priority. However, she also pays for the gas bill. Even though Madame Faye is married she is obligated to work like most women in Senegal because consistent salaries are not guaranteed. One works today and possibly tomorrow.

Future Plans 
For a future project, Madame Faye explained that she would to love buy a glass door and some furnishings to organize her shop and display her work. This will also enable her to work very close to home. She has big plans for this project and is ready to take her business to the next level. 


Client Relationship Manager Intern
Stephen 

Old Friends

Ndeye Bineta Sarr is a wife and mother of three children from Dakar, Senegal. We have many borrowers from Senegal. However, Ndeye has the unique distinction of being the very first borrower to have her loan financed through Zidisha! Madame Sarr used her loan to buy a sewing machine that is able to embroider using larger types of thread. Allowing her to craft the beautiful boubous (See picture to the right) that many women in Senegal wear everyday. With her loan, Madame Sarr was also able to hire an assistant, and plans to produce mens' boubous in the future. Our Director, and Founder, Julia Kurnia met with Ndeye just yesterday. Despite being robbed, dealing with power outages, and having her building demolished, Madame Sarr is striving! Read about Julia's meeting with Ndeye below:

Dear lenders,

I’m Julia, director of Zidisha. I was fortunate to be in Dakar, today, and took advantage of the occasion to visit our first client in Senegal, Madame Ndeye Bineta Sarr. 

Madame Sarr met me at the edge of the paved road, and even though it was the first time we met she greeted me as affectionately as an old friend. As we wound our way through the dusty dirt paths of her neighborhood, she introduced me to various local households who had benefited indirectly from her business: a cloth dealer in the nearby market, a little boutique stacked high with reels of yarn in every imaginable color, and a small sewing shop to which she sometimes outsources less specialized aspects of clothing manufacture. 

West Africa is famous for its vibrant traditional clothing, and many women in Dakar make a living from sewing traditional dresses. Yet in this competitive market, Madame Sarr has carved out a niche for herself thanks to sheer artistic genius. Her creations never fail to turn heads: multicolored skirts sparkling with embroidered stars, hand-knitted lace, and overlapping layers of transparent gauze, imposing folded headdresses with brightly dyed cloth tied in the shape of flowers, necklines in every imaginable geographic shape. Clients fortunate enough to own one of her outfits guard it for special occasions, and when they put it on appear to float above the rest of us in this world, suddenly immune to the billowing clouds of red dust and car exhaust that choke the air. If she had been born in another time and place, Madame Sarr could have easily handled the royal wardrobe of the court of Versailles.

Madame Sarr’s house is constructed in the typical Dakar style: three brightly painted bedrooms alongside a small open courtyard, a separate shed for a kitchen and another for the restroom, corrugated metal roof, and a little faucet in the courtyard which provides the household’s only running water. The whole place was irreproachably clean and Madame Sarr’s artistic touch could be seen in the potted flowers and colored tiles decorating the courtyard. In all some thirty people - including Madame Sarr’s mother, siblings, nieces and nephews, and her own three children - live together in that house.

Madame Sarr used capital raised from Zidisha to buy an electric sewing machine, rent a boutique workshop, hire an employee, and establish a working capital fund that allows her to fill up to a dozen client orders at a time (up from one or two at a time before her first loan). This has allowed her to increase her income dramatically, making her the main breadwinner for her household and allowing the family to invest in public school education up to the university level for Madame Sarr’s children, nieces and nephews. 


Madame Sarr suffered a setback earlier this year when the building housing her workshop was demolished. She adapted by lending the sewing machine to her employee who uses it to assemble outfits that are cut and embroidered by hand by Madame Sarr in her home. Madame Sarr intends to open a new workshop soon. She certainly has no shortage of clients. When asked how she advertises, she laughs and says she simply dresses herself and her children in her creations and waits for people to inquire where in Dakar they can go to buy such extraordinary outfits.

A Warm Welcoming..

Fatou Tall is a 24 year old medical student living in Dakar, Senegal. She pays for her tuition by selling cosmetic products including cologne, perfume and other bathroom products. She does all this while running a chicken coop from her home. She is quite the go-getter! After graduating she would like to sell medical products. Fatou used her Zidisha loan to buy stock for her business and has already payed 86% of her loan back!

                                                                         Fatou Tall

Read about her recent meeting with our interns below:

"Today myself and Cameron, another intern, met with Fatou and her family. Fatou is showing strong progress on her loan, with almost 80% of it paid off. Yesterday, she took out the last portion of it. She has sold almost all of her merchandise–consisting of jeans and women's shoes at the moment, although she has also sold cosmetic products, blouses, and perfume.

Because she relies on the word-of-mouth of her friends to sell her products, she has found it difficult to balance her personal and business relationships but has grown a lot since the beginning of her loan and is now making her payments on time. She uses the proceeds from her merchandise to buy more at the central market in Dakar, Marché Sandaga, as well as to help support the seventeen members of her family. Currently, there are 6 other breadwinners in the family, working as vendors, accountants, civil servants, and electricians. However, she still finds it difficult to support her eight younger siblings–all of whom are in school, either secondary or university–as well as her elderly mother, and her baby nephew, Jacques Abdoulaye Tall.

When we walked into the house, we were warmly welcomed by Fatou. Over the course of the afternoon, we met her family, as well as various neighbors , and friends, one of whom, Dominque, is a fellow Zidisha borrower. We found Fatou cheerful and confident in her abilities both as a shrewd bargainer (she inventories in the enormous Marché Sandaga, no mean feat) and retailer. She proudly displayed the meager remains of her inventory, saying that she would have to restock far more quickly than she had anticipated.

Fatou is very motivated to pay off the rest of her Zidisha loan and ask for another one. She plans on using this second loan to continue building her business and supporting her family. Her long-terms plans involve renting a stall in the market next to the École Dior in order to have a home base for her increasingly lucrative and stable business, as well as a possible boutique, inch'Allah."

A Very Good Day

Recently some of our volunteers and interns had the chance to visit Diop in Dakar, Senegal. Here is what our Zidisha team had to say about their meeting:

Last Friday I had the pleasure of meeting Gabriel and his family in their home in Parcelles Assainies, a suburb of Dakar. Gabriel graciously invited us (2 volunteers and 2 interns) into his home where we were introduced to his family. Gabriel's wife just recently gave birth to their third child, Paul Augustin who is but one month old. They have two other children; Emmanuel who is about 6 and Georgette who is 10. 

It was a particularly opportune visit as it was while we were in Gabriel's company that he learned that his loan had been met in full! It was extremely exciting to be with him and his family at such a joyous time. What's more is that his brother Dominique ,another Zidisha borrower, also found out that his loan had been completed as well. Gabriel was so surprised to find out that he had earned 100% because when he had checked his status the night before he was only at 4%!

With his loan, Gabriel is now able to purchase additional merchandise specific to his clientele and will thus be able to increase his capital to support his growing family. In addition to selling alcohol, Gabriel now hopes to be able to sell meat, other deli products.

A BIG thank you to our Zidisha team in Senegal for the update on Diop!

Zidisha In Country

Want more Zidisha news? Subscribe to the monthly newsletter here. We highlight news like this!:

We are thrilled to announce that Zidisha has been selected as an Echoing Green Semifinalist! Echoing Green is one of the world's most prestigious social entrepreneurship awards. This year, Echoing Green received a record 3,554 applications for the 2012 Echoing Green Fellowship. Of these initial submissions, only the top 10% were chosen as Semifinalists. We would like to thank our lenders for their support... We wouldn't have made it without you! Visit the Echoing Green blog and share the good news with friends, family, and fans.
To read more of February's edition, click here.

"Hello" & "Thanks" from Around the World

Here are some recent posts from Zidisha borrowers:
"Good morning to everybody,
I have indeed received the money that I have asked for, I was able to buy the cart as I have said before and now three young men are selling with me. I am very happy with the promptness my file has been handled and the money was available to me. I'd like to thank all the lenders who has answered to my request and hope from all my heart that I will not disappoint them. Thank you also for your encouragements. I talked about the system of Zidisha to other people who has shown interest but were often blocked by the question of Internet or they have never been getting a loan. I'd like to thank you very much." - Hadamou Bonzi 

"Greetings good people.Business is in good condition." - John Mwathi

"HALLO ALL;' thankyou zidisha people for all your support am hoping and waiting for my loan thahkyou all in advance" - Daniel Mungai 

"hallo there zidisha people i hope everything is fine there . here paul is fine in my business as usual hoping all thing will go as god plan it i have seen milacle in the busineses of the people who have already got their money from zidisha their bussines is doing fine ;;may god bless you all as you go on with my biding and leding me your money THANKYOU ALL" - Paul Mwangi 

"thank you to all Zidisha lenders. I did receive all the loan and on Saturday I went to Nakuru town to buy more items for business. My business is now fully stocked and I have already introduced many new clothes for my customers. We are experiencing a dry season and its very hot and dusty here. All in all we are used to this kind of season. Blessed to you all Zidisha team." - Mercy Njeri

"After recieving the loan Ahmadi went to the place for small fish sales. Part of the money bought new fish and fish food, the hope is that in 3 months he can already begin to harvest the product. Sorry if this news is late because since beginning activity Ahmadi has been so busy with his cultivating schedule and also his crafting job that Ahmadi has to finish. Several of Ahmadi's friends are enthusiastic about the zidisha program, because there are friend's of his that want to open their own business. They have already joined training at the Tiara Foundation of Work Growth. Thank you Zidisha." - Received from Ibu Titik Winarti, director of Tiara Institution where Mr Ahmadi works

"Hi Zidisha, I am Abraham Mwangi from Kiptangwanyi Nakuru kenya am very greatful to Zidisha organization.I didnt understand the importance of comments but am grateful because one of the Zidisha team Member visited me at my premises here at Kiptangwanyi trading center where my business is located on 2nd Feb on 2012. Since i was the 1st person to receive the loan from Zidisha in this area most of community members has now joined the organization am sure i understand 90% of them. For the 1st time i had a problem with my repayment schedule but now am okay. Am holding several projects since the fuel and spair business is learnt by my wife Veronica. Am having a transportation project which am learning here at Kitagwanyi with my own car. Am planning to get the 2nd loan which i will use it by starting a new project of dairy cows for the production of milk. The half of the amount i will add more stock to serve more customers. The project will help my family with milk and also selling to Brookside company, Am very grateful to Zidisha." - Abraham Mwangi

"thank you all of you for your generous bidding towards my loan" - Daniel Maina"I very greatfull to Zidisha your webb site software is very perfect i just paid my loan installment and it was update in less than 12 hour and I can access the information from my account to confirm payment well done Zidisha youare very efficient." - Gladys Kagunda

Turning Zidisha Loans into Medical Supplies

Client Relationship volunteer Maguette recently met up with Combé Thiaw in Senegal. Her business entails buying medical supplies to sell to clinics and hospitals around Dakar. Here is an update about her:

Combé is ethnically Diolla, one of the well-known ethnic groups in Senegal. She is originally from the southern part of Senegal, called the Casamance. She is 32 years old. She is single and the mother of a 5-year-old boy who is in kindergarten. Combé works in the administrative section of the Chifa Clinic in Sacré Coeur 1 [a neighborhood in Dakar] where she works as a management assistant (issuing invoices, photocopying, etc). The clinic is relatively young and opened in 2010.

She sells medical equipment to medical offices, hospitals and other clinics. These supplies include IV drips, syringes, urine bags, probes, sutures, compresses, and more, pretty much everything that hospitals use. In this cold season, clinics are not very active. In fact, hospitals are busiest during the rainy season because malaria cases are prevalent.

She has a stock of two million products and has the advantage that the medical supplies are not perishable. She does not have time constraints regarding her clinic work because she is not under a contact. She is not paid a salary at the clinic because she works there just to help some old friends. She sells for orders 30 days after delivery, but in many cases, it is 60 to 90 days after delivery. This is because the clinics work with the IPM. Her main clients are: Blue Cross Clinic, Rady Clinic, Madeleine Clinic, and the Clinic of Mamelles. The supplier is Delta Medical. She regulates the cash of suppliers, and that is why the gaps in cash flow are often felt.

The loan from Zidisha has had a positive impact on Combé’s financial situation. It has indeed allowed her to better meet her daily expenses like paying rent, paying the housekeeper, transportation (taxi or public transportation), her son’s education and other small personal expenses. The monthly profit from her business is 400,000 to 500,000 CFA [about 800 to 1000 US dollars]. After having deducted her expenses from her earnings, she buys goods which she keeps in her apartment’s stockroom. Her house also has two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom.


Combé holds a license (Bac + 3) as an executive assistant. However, she has repeatedly refused a salary of more than 200,000 [working as an assistant] because according to her, her small business is more interesting than the salary of an executive assistant.

She hopes to continue her collaboration with Zidisha because she finds that the loans are very accessible. According to her, “Zidisha is exceptional”. 

To read more posts from interns about this entrepreneur, or to hear from Combé herself, check out her Zidisha page.

"This moment from my heart"

Recently, because of upcoming elections, there have been riots and demonstrations throughout Senegal. A Senegalese Zidisha borrower, Alassane Diop, posted about the unfolding drama on his Zidisha page. Here are his comments since January:

With the consent of the director I would like to talk about the uniqueness of my region. You should know that Ziguinchor is the victim of a rebellion called MFDC (Movement of Democratic Forces in the Casamance). This rebellion has been around for almost 30 years and now people criticize and denounce it but it is still there. They are mostly in remote areas and attack people traveling—they rob cars and make all the passengers get out to steal their goods. The unfortunate ones are killed in cold blood. After these actions the rebellion returns to the bush. It is in this atmosphere that I still live. I’ve seen a lot of people killed, houses burned, women raped, and people who are taken away and never return…I’m not afraid to say that this is a way for me to denounce the rebellion that has made us endure suffering and losses, a way for me to share my troubles with anyone who wants to hear it. When I was a student, I wrote to the President to let him know that we need peace, not to destroy this beautiful natural region. There are clashes between the army and the MFDC (Movement of Democratic Forces in the Casamance). There are talks and plans to stop the conflict, but the MFDC remains. 


Because of the presence of rebels on the road, everyone wanted to travel by boat to Dakar and that is why a boat called the Diola overloaded and capsized on September 26, 2002. I don’t know if you heard on the news, but there were more than 2000 deaths and only around 60 survivors. As you can see, it is awful. Traveling by airplane is best but it is also the most expensive.
Have you heard about Senegalese people who take canoes to go to Spain? Hundreds of thousands of young people have lost their lives at sea. All of this has a direct impact on my work, because as you all know, everywhere I go, I am a witness to all of this awfulness. 

I am a young person who believes in myself. I am not tempted by foolishness; I make a living by the sweat of my brow. This comment is like a drop of water in the ocean.

Thank you for sharing with me this moment from my heart.

Regarding my previous comments, the situation here at home has not changed, and in this moment we are living in a very tense situation. I am doing my batik in between students throwing stones who have been on strike since October and police with teargas. 

In fact, it is a fierce battle between students and government forces, to the point where a student was killed by a bullet. It is because the presidential elections are in a few months so nothing works. All sectors have been on a strike against the government because of the cost of living, imagine that today there is not transportation, no bread, no fish—everyone is on strike because the cost of gasoline is too expensive, the professors are also on a strike for months because they have not been paid.

I am writing all of this quickly because I am doing many things at once. I will take the time to tell you all about the tranquility, also the sides that are not negative. Ziguinchor is a beautiful region full of live, it is paradise on earth. I am telling you all, I am showing you all, and now you all know.

In my place, it has been very tense for a few weeks because of the presidential elections that will happen within a few weeks. This caused demonstrations during whose houses have been burnt, cars have been destroyed and some people has passed away. To face this situation, I don't want to take risks for now. Then, everything will be back to normal and I will transfer the money quietly. It's not my first loan and I know I will have to pay even more.

I am talking about the situation in my country, you can also ask others borrowers who are from Senegal.

At my place, it is very tense, especially at Ziguinchor where I live.

Regarding the presidential elections, the whole population is rebelling against a third term of president Abdoulaye Wade who is 86 years old. Can you imagine? He is the oldest president in the world.

He had written on the constitution that his term would have stopped in 2012 but, a few months before the elections, he says he is candidate. So, he is breaking the constitution of Senegal.
However, his candidacy has been accepted by the constitutional council that he elected himself, so, because they are all friends of him, they could only accept his candidacy. They are 5 magistrates to whom he offered 5 millions and cars: This is pure bribery.

That is why there has been an uprising of the population. The USA, France and the EU have all said that he must let the country move on to the next generation, but he is still stubborn
Senegal is mismanaged, life is too expensive and people do not eat enough--that's leading to the loss of our values, and that encourages young people to take a boat to Spain, which is practically a suicide.

Things that costed 10F a few years ago, now costs 250F. The old women who sells peanuts in front of her home, she needs 500 F to feed her children and she pays 200F per day for taxes, when are her children going to starve?

No sector is functional. For example, the education's budget represents 40 % of the total country budget but, let me say to you all, there are empty schools this year. Indeed, since October, the pupils have not studied fully during a month; there are strikes every time. Teachers goes on strike because they don't get their salaries, the new graduated students (from high school) are not orientated to universities. However, our aging president says 40% of the budget goes to this sector.
Besides, in my region in the South, it's even more complex, because there are rebel infiltrations during riots of the people. That explains why people are dying--the police are shooting with real bullets. That's why, madam Zidisha director, I can't go out every time I want. The only way to contact you is with my phone so, I don't want to lose it.

The particularity of the southern regions is geographical and cultural. You must know this region is bordered by Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, the Republic of Guinea, and the atlantic ocean at west. Every ethnic group from the subregion and from west Africa is present. So, the cultural diversity is very strong. It is a wild and green area. The nature gives us all. But, today the conflict made its own enclosure: every zinguinchorois on the same line is fighting for a definitive peace in order to give back the smile and the real identity to the Casamance, to make people stop starving, to make justice be done, to stop the sacrifices of youth, to create jobs, no more mines, that everyone can do their activities quietly.

PS: The entire Senegal says thanks to the USA and to the EU to have dotted the i's and crossed the t's with our president who is soon to be 100 years old.

Thank you for sharing with me the troubles of my place.
EDIT: Another update from Mr. Diop, 02/16/2012The electoral campaign started a week ago. The candidates are going everywhere with their thousand supporters but their arrival in Ziguinchor is a major problem because of the rebels presence around here. This past Saturday, the President came in the south of our region but in a helicopter. I never saw in my whole life so much military and law enforcement personnel. The scene in front of me was just like a country at war. The phone lines were down, nobody could dial out or receive any calls and I could not take any picture for fear of being taken. The President ‘campaign lasted few hours only.

On the other side, there was shooting amongst the rebel’s army. Cases of fraud make the front page with the military vote that is going to occur this Saturday and Sunday. There will be no vote counting as the ballots will be kept until the night of February 26th. The military vote has been imposed by the President Wade but the Senegalese army has always been neutral. Their priority is to protect the population.

The president injected more money in the military budget. The military is sent in different missions in the countries at wars and after each mission they received approximately 3 million dollars.
The school year is invalid. Since the beginning of school year the students did not have any grades or test or evaluations. It’s been four months that they are not in school.

Everywhere tires are being burned, the traffic is intense and impossible to beat. We are constantly breathing the smoke of bursting grenades. The army does not hesitate to shoot in the crowd.

To come back on the subject of “Daniel” Youssou Ndour has not been validated by the constitutional council. They are saying that he did not pay his taxes and did not present 12 000 signatures which is totally false. He is definitely a menace to the president popularity. He is on the movement side and he is sick and tired of the M23 movement.

The first movement is consisting on a citizen who is patriotic and wants a system change agreeing on freedom and democracy. The second movement is to march against the law to elect 25% of the suffrage. In the entire country we usually elect at 51%

I hear some noise outside, it is getting dangerous. I need to leave it is safer. Talk to you later.
“Viva la democracy"


To read more about Alassane's experience and his batik business, check out his profile here 
To learn more about Senegal's current situation, check out this BBC news report or this CNN article.