A woman’s hope restored through holistic training …
Edith Nawamala one of the ladies who went through the Watoto Church neighborhood programme in 2019 has started her own business.“I manage my own retail shop as well as a tailoring business in Nankulabye area of Kampala,” Edith gladly tells the CMS-Africa team when they visited in March 2020.Before she joined the neighbourhood programme, Edith was staying in one room house selling polythene papers earning her less than 1 USD per day.
She was identified by Watoto community workers and then she joined the neighborhood programme where she learn some of the best financial literacy skills taken from the CMS-Africa F4 course. After the discipleship class, she got to know God and then the entrepreneurship class came in she was able to grow her business thought from selling of polythene papers of UGX 2000 to a big retail shop that she runs now.
Edith has 3 children but the father is an absentee parent and so she has to shoulder both the responsibilities of a father and mother that she is. The children are 9 years at Primary 5 for the eldest, the second one is 7 and the other is 2 year-old who is already starting to go to baby class.
Edith, who is only 29 learnt that she could start from what she has and grow it a principle that greatly came forward during her interaction with the CMS-Africa trainings on stewardship. She learnt about record keeping and savings which have over the years helped her to grow her business and she puts them to practice. She now has a shop with a stock of over 500 USD and her tailoring business of over 300 USD.Edith sells sugar, cereals, flour, water, snacks, drinks among others basic items to be found in a normal retail shop.
Edith would walk from her place to church during the 24 month engagement in the neighborhood programme to save the transport allowance from the training which then would be later used as startup capital for her business.She was further supported to buy a freezer and fridge to help her engage in business of selling drinks and snacks. She also bought a sewing machine - a normal one as well as the one for making sweaters. Edith makes and sells school sweaters as she retails at her shop.
Edith rents a room for her business and resident at an equivalent of USD 40 and started off with her sawing machines as well as the freezer. She is now able to pay for her 2 children and Watoto pays for the other elder one to attend school. Watoto church takes the child who is 10 years and below and supports them through homes until when the child has gone through university. Edith says that she has learnt a lot from the programme and one of the key things is that she can afford to take care of her own needs and those of her 3 children.
On the spiritual front, she didn’t know anything about tithing but now she has learnt to tithe and she tithes regularly.Edith recommends that as many women as possible in Kampala should go through the training.“I had a female friend who was seeking what to do with her savings of 50 USD. She recommended to her to start a vegetable stall and to date, that business is on and has really helped improve the life of her family.
She has grown the grocery to become her main source of income,” says Edith. She is in VSLA member and she is saving. To date she has saved over UGX 300, 000. Her profit margins per month is UGX 150,000 and Edith has ever given UGX 50,000 to church as her offering having picked this from the generosity topic of F4Edith’s net worth now stands at UGX1.2M only after 2 years of engaging in business from nothing. For Edith, Mission is business in the sense that she is sponsoring her sisters and her children.
By John Ndeta
She was identified by Watoto community workers and then she joined the neighborhood programme where she learn some of the best financial literacy skills taken from the CMS-Africa F4 course. After the discipleship class, she got to know God and then the entrepreneurship class came in she was able to grow her business thought from selling of polythene papers of UGX 2000 to a big retail shop that she runs now.
Edith has 3 children but the father is an absentee parent and so she has to shoulder both the responsibilities of a father and mother that she is. The children are 9 years at Primary 5 for the eldest, the second one is 7 and the other is 2 year-old who is already starting to go to baby class.
Edith, who is only 29 learnt that she could start from what she has and grow it a principle that greatly came forward during her interaction with the CMS-Africa trainings on stewardship. She learnt about record keeping and savings which have over the years helped her to grow her business and she puts them to practice. She now has a shop with a stock of over 500 USD and her tailoring business of over 300 USD.Edith sells sugar, cereals, flour, water, snacks, drinks among others basic items to be found in a normal retail shop.
Edith would walk from her place to church during the 24 month engagement in the neighborhood programme to save the transport allowance from the training which then would be later used as startup capital for her business.She was further supported to buy a freezer and fridge to help her engage in business of selling drinks and snacks. She also bought a sewing machine - a normal one as well as the one for making sweaters. Edith makes and sells school sweaters as she retails at her shop.
Edith rents a room for her business and resident at an equivalent of USD 40 and started off with her sawing machines as well as the freezer. She is now able to pay for her 2 children and Watoto pays for the other elder one to attend school. Watoto church takes the child who is 10 years and below and supports them through homes until when the child has gone through university. Edith says that she has learnt a lot from the programme and one of the key things is that she can afford to take care of her own needs and those of her 3 children.
On the spiritual front, she didn’t know anything about tithing but now she has learnt to tithe and she tithes regularly.Edith recommends that as many women as possible in Kampala should go through the training.“I had a female friend who was seeking what to do with her savings of 50 USD. She recommended to her to start a vegetable stall and to date, that business is on and has really helped improve the life of her family.
She has grown the grocery to become her main source of income,” says Edith. She is in VSLA member and she is saving. To date she has saved over UGX 300, 000. Her profit margins per month is UGX 150,000 and Edith has ever given UGX 50,000 to church as her offering having picked this from the generosity topic of F4Edith’s net worth now stands at UGX1.2M only after 2 years of engaging in business from nothing. For Edith, Mission is business in the sense that she is sponsoring her sisters and her children.
By John Ndeta