Lydia Tushabe enjoys being in business. She started out with a little hair salon in a room by the side of a road that runs into Kabale. With her loan from the Five Talents funded program she was able to open a retail shop with primary sales in bananas. She purchases in bulk and then acts as a wholesaler, selling smaller quantities to others, who in turn sell the bananas in area village markets.
"I very much like the group weekly meetings where we talk about business and then pray to God that He continue to strengthen us," she said.
Lydia's family is just one of the 350 families being helped by the Diocese of Kigezi - Five Talents International program that promotes and provides micro-business training and micro-credit loans to poor entrepreneurs. The program also integrates biblical teaching on stewardship and business values. The Diocese of Kigezi is located in the Kabale district in the southwestern part of the country near the Rwandan border. The unemployment rate is high and there are more than 50, 000 AIDS/HIV orphans.
In March 2002, a team visited the Diocese of Kigezi to support the six-month old program. Besides visiting with the families benefiting from the program, the group spent hours working with the Five Talents East African Regional Director, the Revd Jonathan Byamugishi, drafting a plan that has as its goal making the Five Talents program self-sufficient in three years. This means that the interest and fees paid along with the principal of the loan will cover all the operational costs and there will still be funds left for loans.
Article from: Five Talents International