Filed under: Micro-investments | Tags: africa, co-op, cotton wax fabric, Fort Portal, kitinge, micro finance, microfinance, pagne, social investment, uganda, villages connected
Doreen - a Villages Connected microentrepreneur
One of the most striking things about someone’s first glimpse of Africa is colour. There are majestic landscapes, vibrant markets and best of all, colourful personalities. In the middle of this however, one finds something beautifully African: textile traditions that defy the colour spectrum.
Whether referred to as kitinge, batengi or pagne, cotton wax fabrics with their wild and vibrant colors are both popular and spectacular. With varying degrees of quality in weaving and printing and even greater differences in style and design, a good connoisseur of these cloths will pick just the right bolt to turn into fashionable garments as distinct as the cultures themselves.
And that is the market in which Doreen is breaking into with her new business. Identified by Villages Connected Fort Portal media co-op members as a micro-enterprise with promise, Doreen is seeking a 1 million Ugandan shilling loan (about $450 Canadian) to expand her business and continue to support her family. To expand she will invest C$160 to purchase a greater variety of kitenge. The other C$290 will be used to diversify and add shoes to her product line – this is on request from many of her customers.
A former nurse, Doreen’s business has already positively changed her life – and with a greater investment into the enterprise, she is confident she can make an even greater difference for herself, her children and her community. She aims to also provide future employment to others by using her business skills and revenue to create other income generating projects in her community.
With great confidence in Doreen’s ability to deliver on her business aspirations, Villages Connected Fort Portal has already issued the first phase of the loan. While she is putting this part of the loan to work for her business, we are looking for an additional 600,000 Ugandan shilligs (about C$290) from investors to assist her in meeting her full expansion.
To support Doreen or microentrepreneurs like her, watch the video and turn your dollars into an investment by clicking here.
Filed under: Media Co-op Members, VC Team | Tags: africa, co-op, Fort Portal, internship, micro finance, microfinance, microsavings, uganda, villages connected
“Tell me and I forget.
Teach me and I remember.
Involve me and I learn.”
–Benjamin Franklin
One of the fundamental values held by Villages Connected is that through participatory means – that is, by truly working together – we can achieve our goals of demonstrating potential through humanity. This of course requires concerted effort, quite a bit of vision and a willingness to get involved.
Moureen: Villages Connected Fort Portal media co-op member and new intern!
It also takes people like Moureen Kanyunyuzi to accept the challenge of stepping out of her classroom at Mountains of the Moon University and stepping up in her role as microfinance committee chair with Villages Connected Fort Portal media co-op by turning this experience into a two-month long field placement.
Beginning at the end of this term, Moureen will embark full-time with Villages Connected as an intern working on enhancing and expanding the microfinance products delivered by the Fort Portal media co-op. Moureen is a second year student in the BSc. Banking and Development Finance, has already completed another internship with a microfinance institution in Fort Portal, and just last year, was a key onsite-coordinator for Villages Connected during the initial set up of the co-op.
“My career aspirations are to eventually design management systems for financial institutions. Immediately after my graduation, I would like to work in a financial institution dealing with the unbanked population – to find out why some people don’t receive financial services and find a way to reduce that number.”
Moureen explains that Mountains of the Moon University approved the internship with Villages Connected because it work is relevant to her field of study, and, most especially with plans to develop savings products for members, it is a great opportunity for her to expand on her research.
Moureen and other media co-op members working on product development
“For my studies, my goal in this placement is to enhance my knowledge of the relationship between saving product designs and women’s savings behaviour. This will help to design products that suit the women’s savings behaviour in rural areas.” She adds, “It will help me to translate the theoretical concepts attained in school into the practical.”
With the media co-op’s microfinance loans moving forward and more microentrepreneurs demonstrating interest in working with Villages Connected, Moureen’s work and research is a timely fit.
Congratulations Moureen! Villages Connected is glad be learning together with you.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: africa, african, africans, caring capital, Fort Portal, grassroots, gulu, investment, Joseph Kony, kony, Kony 2012, micro finance, microfinance, social investment, uganda, villages connected
As the Executive Director for Villages Connected, I am indignant about the Kony 2012 campaign. I see it as a flawed approach to put the focus on Kony ahead and above of everything else. I say this because our organization works at the grassroots in a community called Fort Portal, Uganda and what I have experienced there leads me to different conclusions.
So, if the Kony 2012 campaign is a success, and somehow Kony is captured or killed, will it then be mission accomplished for the millions that participated in the campaign? Will they celebrate? After all, the evildoer is gone and now everyone can live happily ever after.
Wrong!
The hunt for Kony diverts the attention from the real problem in Africa: inequality.
The root cause is that poor villagers are vulnerable economically and man and nature can so easily exploit their weaknesses. Many of these villagers cannot even afford mosquito nets to protect themselves from malaria – which has killed many more people than Kony has. But this fact is one that we somehow accept more easily.
The real enemy is the world turning a blind eye to the importance of investing in Africa as a way to turn inequality on its head. Supporting businesses that build strong economies give the power to the people to protect themselves socially and economically from “Konys” and malaria-mosquitoes.
We want to see a different outcome, but we too often fail to bear witness to the potential of opportunities in Africa.
Ugandan kids, full of life, in school and ready to show us the potential of Africa.
Too many times, Western organizations go to Africa to find problems. People start organizations to address these problems, then sensationalize them to spread the word to millions of people to raise funds. What is the result: a million negative messages about Africa being war-torn, emaciated, helpless etc.
Elsewhere in the world opportunities attract investors. The worlds economic system is driven by investors – if these investors don’t have confidence that a business exists in a stable environment and can flourish, guess what, they won’t invest. Media and aid organizations feed us endless messages about the problems of Africa – not a picture to attract investors for sure. However, this is not the reality for most of Africa – and definitely not in Uganda where Kony and his cronies actually left years ago.
Opportunities are there and waiting for investors.
While we don’t see the messages, there are countless everyday people seizing opportunities, starting businesses, developing new techniques, giving rise to new products. We may not hear about people working hard to show they have products to sell, but they are many!
This message just isn’t communicated because everyday people don’t have millions of dollars to launch marketing campaigns.
Instead, these everyday people seem to get food packages, donations to band-aid the real issues, and – now – millions of dollars spent on a marketing initiative to make a warlord famous. Kony has killed 60 000 kids. Economic equality is killing millions and will continue to do so unless we stand up and create a real victory over inequality.
We need to invest in the countless viable African businesses – big and small – so that everyday Africans can grow their local economies. They will then be able to protect themselves socially and economically and become less vulnerable to the Konys of the world.
With a successful Kony 2012 campaign, we may neutralize this “Kony”, but ten years from now there may be another “Kony”.
It really saddens me that millions of dollars will make a criminal famous, when millions of people in Uganda and a billion people in Africa can radically change their long-term economic well-being – and by default the negative perceptions of Africa – with a fraction of that money.
In our work at Villages Connected, we invest in businesses, share stories of the everyday opportunities. Our work creates an environment that could lead to a prosperous future for at least 200 000 people in Fort Portal alone. We make Fort Portal a little more famous in our own way. Yet it’s the people, the businesses, the opportunities for investment that have center stage in making the real difference.
Imagine the possibilities if our approach was replicated elsewhere? .
No war, no negativity, no handouts, no band-aids, no space for the Konys of the world. An end to the inequality.
What I know from my experience is this: investing in communities and bearing witness to the potential – this is the solution.
Villages Connected International is a registered non-profit that combines the tools of media, marketing and micro-finance to unlock the potential of global and local values-based partnerships. Check us out on www.villagesconnected.org
Filed under: Media Co-op Members, Micro-investments | Tags: africa, co-op, Fort Portal, loan recipients, microfinance, opportunity, uganda, villages connected
When you first meet Prisca, you notice her smile and her bubbly personality. When you speak with her, she is curious and energetic. But it isn’t until you ask her about the Peace Restaurant that you realize that this 20-year-old university student is also a very strong businesswoman and focused entrepreneur.
The video attached alternates between scenes from the restaurant and Prisca’s own presentation to the Villages Connected Fort Portal media co-op. Her presentation of the needs of the restaurant was done as part of an exercise in demonstrating business needs that the media co-op could meet with its microfinance fund – it is, in fact, one of the steps in the media-based loan application process. (Make no mistake: when she says “they” in that video she actually means herself!)
Maintaining and growing the Peace Restaurant is very close to her heart. It was Prisca, the second of four siblings, who inherited her mother’s restaurant when both her parents died within a few months of each other. What was a labor of love for her mother, is now hers to continue in the same tradition. The business revenues not directly reinvested in the restaurant are instead invested in her own education, in the support of her siblings and in employing others – mostly women – in her own community.
The Villages Connected investment made in the restaurant was focused on aesthetics and functionality – two elements that Prisca identified as necessary to increase the profitability of the business. Prisca wanted to give the restaurant a facelift so as to attract more customers in the taxi park and to make some repairs. The restaurant also needed additional equipment, such as pots, utensils, plates, etc, so they could operate more efficiently onsite and have the ability to handle outside catering.
Now that the investment into her business has been made, her words from her initial Villages Connected application almost a year ago resonate in a way that shows this young entrepreneur is only just beginning. On why it was important for her to take part in Villages Connected, Prisca wrote:
“It is going to help me put up my business through financial assistance, in that I do not sit back and look on after I have finished my degree, thus helping me to be a job creator rather than a job seeker.”
It isn’t hard to see the true value of this investment and the reach of its returns – for Prisca and the Peace Restaurant.
Filed under: Media Co-op Members, Micro-investments, Project Updates | Tags: africa, agricultural training, co-op, Fort Portal, loan recipients, micro finance, microfinance, seed fund, uganda, villages connected
It was back in October of last year that Villages Connected Fort Portal media co-op made it’s biggest leap yet. In fact, the media co-op made six leaps with 6 local business people.
The media co-op started with a small micro-finance seed fund. The co-op members, under the leadership of the micro-finance committee, worked together to identify small businesses that could benefit from a capital investment and whose owners shared the values of the co-op. With the businesses identified, the co-op held a special ceremony gathering some 25 people where they celebrated issuing these first loans.
The ceremony was presided by Muzigiti Geoffrey Baluku, president of the Villages Connected Fort Portal media co-op, and the funds handed over to the recipients by Mugisa Herbert, Chairman LC3 South Division.
Villages Connected Media Co-op member and chair of the micro-finance committee, Kanyunyuzi Moureen , explained the LC3 chairman was asked to take this role in the ceremony to represent the local government and its support of Villages Connected and “in order to acknowledge the work we have started doing for the community of Fort-Portal.”
“The Loan recipients were very happy and highly motivated to pursue their desired dream goals. And they promise to work harder to help themselves and the community as a whole” added Moureen. “It was a great achievement for me personally and Villages Connected Fort-Portal since it was the first time to issue loans from our seed fund.”
Microfinance Committee Chair Moureen assisting loan recipient Joy in filling out her loan agreement
The loans were issued for a restaurant, an event decorator/planner business, a liquor store/lounge, a dairy and a community garden and agricultural training organization. The six loans totaled $2,000 CAD. The terms and interest rates were set by the members and agreed to by the recipients who – more than 4 months in – have achieved a 100% repayment rate.
“This comes at a time when it’s increasingly becoming difficult to access credit especially during these difficult times of high inflation rates in our country Uganda. Therefore, this is a big opportunity for us […] to invest in our [local] businesses so that as our businesses grow, [so] we will be able to showcase our potential and that of our community.” — Muzigiti Geoffrey Baluku President-VC-Fort Portal
Micro-loan recipient Moreen receiving the funds to make her dairy business grow
Filed under: Media Co-op Members, Project Updates, VC Team | Tags: africa, co-op, Fort Portal, media, microfinance, uganda, villages connected
The attached is a letter from Villages Connected’s Founder and Director, de Villiers van Zyl, to VC’s supporters with an overview of the last few months and the direction for upcoming year. Enjoy!
June 25, 2010: VC-Fort Portal co-op members received their certificates for completion
Dear Supporters:
First and foremost I want to thank you for your generous support on behalf of Villages Connected International and our whole team in Fort Portal, Uganda. Your support made it possible to set-up and equip a Villages Connected media co-operative in Fort Portal as well as to provide the co-operative with a $2000 micro-finance fund. Thanks to your support this unknown African community is now able to show the world that opportunity is plentiful, that Africa is a great investment and ready to create value-based partnerships globally.
Even though we were not in the limelight the last six months we have been very busy. I want to take the time to give you a quick update of what we have been doing and what you can look forward to see from us in the coming months.
Our Canadian team left Fort Portal in July. While Caroline and Greg went back to Cameroon to finish their contract with CUSO-VSO, Ernie and I returned to Canada. We arrived in Canada with more than a hundred hours of footage, hundreds of pictures and a strong commitment to our first media co-op in Fort Portal.
In Uganda, Villages Connected Fort Portal and its 21 members took the reigns and with our support, worked out the organizational kinks to make this idea we had a reality. See, we took over equipment, did some training and communicated our vision, but at the end of the day VC Fort Portal belongs to its members and only they can make it fit like a glove. And wow, did they make it fit.
Hardworking crew: VC-Fort Portal co-op members at the entrance of their office
They have restructured the leadership and management teams to reflect commitment, talent and interest. Geoffrey Muzigiti, Micro-Finance Lecturer at a local university was elected President. He is supported by directors Margaret Kemigisa (Award winning Social Entrepreneur) Vice-President and Annet Kugonza (Teacher) as secretary. To oversee day-to-day operations in media and micro-finance they have elected a five member Management Committee: Goldino (Chairman), Gilbert (Vice Chair), Mourreen (Micro-finance) Prisca (Secretary) and Lawrence (Media). In need of office space, but with limited resources as a start-up, the team met with Local Member of Parliament, Alex Ruhunda for advice and support. He was so impressed with the group and their mission through Villages Connected, that he offered to provide them with paid office space for six months.
With committed leadership, an office and a paid part time office manager, Villages Connected Fort Portal has achieved the following highlights:
- Issued its first micro-loans to six businesses in Fort Portal with a 100 percent of monthly installments paid back
- Grew its membership base to more than 50
- Has set-up its first media training class with ten new members.
- Approved and documented 5 new businesses, with footage being edited and to be distributed for funding in the coming weeks.
Our Canadian team and I have been working behind the scenes editing footage, supporting VC Fort Portal and structuring Villages Connected International, now fully registered and incorporated.
Structurally everything in place, both here in Canada and in Uganda, we are exited to declare 2012 the year of Villages Connected. In the next coming weeks we will re-launch our blog and distribute Fort Portal business opportunity videos that will provide you with exciting investment opportunities. Furthermore, in February, we will distribute the world’s first participatory ad created for Tigh-Na-Mara Resort Spa & Conference Centre in partnership with VC Fort Portal.
From every angle: VC-Fort Portal co-op members capturing MP Alex Ruhunda special event
Villages Connected International and Villages Connected Fort Portal will also hit the road in February to start sharing the stories of Africans ready, committed and capable of creating mutually beneficial economic partnerships with you. Please let us know if you belong to a service group, have a group of socially conscious friends or are part of a socially responsible business that wants to discover an Africa full of opportunity.
Thanks very much for being a part of this exciting journey on route to realize our vision of a global village where humanity, prosperity and economic growth are interconnected.
With respect,
de Villiers
Filed under: Project Updates | Tags: africa, co-op, Fort Portal, media, microfinance, participatory, social enterprise, uganda, villages connected
Time flies when business ideas take off.
Or at least that is what has consumed the last few weeks.
Each of the co-op members had been tasked with a video or photo essay assignment as part of their training: to document a business idea that could be funded by the co-op through its microfinance fund. The members were to use their new interview skills, learn about the business and use the media they create as a sort of visual loan application.
By the time the group convened, there were 17 businesses proposed for Villages Connected loans, and many more in the works.
co-member Geoffrey proposed helping a retail shop grow using the first round of microfinance loans
co-member Prisca proposed her restaurant for the first round of microfinance loans
Like everything we’ve done here, the process of evaluation was developed by our co-op members. It was simple and flexible, yet structured.
First, each of the media co-op members presented their video or photo essay to the group. Then the group members, acting as first evaluators of the loan application, asked the presenters some truly tough questions. They wanted to be sure that the business ideas were viable and, therefore, that their microfinance fund would be well used.
From there, the group voted for their 3 choices for the first round – the businesses they thought would be good candidates for the microloans. This brought the number down to 13 applications.
A core group of members attended an additional training session to learn more about how to do business assessments and how to make preliminary financial analysis of the businesses. Armed with an extensive questionnaire, members worked in pairs, visiting the business owners, and took charge of the assessment process. In the end, they were able to figure out that some of the application, while very interesting, were not good candidates for the first round of lending. Others, they decided, would make excellent clients.
co-op member Lawrence interviews one of the applicants for a microfinance loan
The biggest difficulty? The size of the microloan fund.
The original plan, and what we at Villages Connected had aimed for, was to provide loans to 10 businesses as a starting point. The 10 would demonstrate just how powerful combining media and microfinance could be. However, our fundraising efforts fell short of what was needed. So only 4 businesses will be able to gain access to the microfinance fund in round 1.
The group will decide which four start things rolling.
Once they do, these four businesses will not only have passionate Villages Connected media co-operative members running them. They will also have the support of their equally dynamic fellow media co-op members. Together they will help the businesses take flight and monitor its progress using the cameras in their hands.
Filed under: Media Co-op Members, Project Updates | Tags: africa, co-op, Fort Portal, media, microfinance, uganda, villages connected
One might think that building a media co-op would be all fun and games – an exercise in creativity and visual experiments. All of the photography and video taking of community assets, curiosities and getting that “awesome shot”.
Not.
There is a whole other side to the inception of the Fort Portal media co-op and it’s not creative in the least! In order to have a successful media co-op, not only will there need to be breathtaking media, but there will also need to be a sound foundation to work from. And that’s where the co-op members, and additional assistance from a select few members (which we lovingly call “the microfinance core group”), have come in.
co-op members Prisca, Margaret and Best working on ways to make the co-op sustainable
Since the very first week, together we have been working towards developing the co-op’s constitution and bylaws, as well as the terms and conditions of the microfinance fund. There is a lot of cross-over between the two, and much, much discussion on the best ways to move forward.
In general, the discussions have focused on structure and future growth. It took no time at all – days, really – for the co-op members to not only “buy-in” to the Villages Connected vision, but also to begin to define ways to make it a reality.
But whether or not the co-op members would make sure their organization would function lay in the details.
The “proof” lay in the “pudding” they mixed up during a marathon set of discussion groups talking about such intriguing subjects as co-op structure, criteria for loan recipients, interest rates and repayment terms, and sustainability of the co-op.
The going wasn’t always easy. Most of the co-op’s members had never taken out a loan or even visited a microfinance institution. Fewer even had established an association or co-op – never mind the two at once!
co-op member Jamiah
But the members of the microfinance core group kept things rolling and made sure everyone contributed to the way things would work. The members were lucky enough that among their numbers they had a president of a women’s community lending circle, a community mobilizer, a lecturer and a student in microfinance, and a single mother with a keen eye for business potential.
So the group of 21 founding co-op members rotated from station to station, discussing exactly how their co-op would work. The Villages Connected team offered advice when it was asked for, but ultimately the end product was theirs.
co-op members in deep discussion on interest rates and loan conditions with some clarifications from crew member Caroline
They answered the question not only of how they would give loans, but also how they would keep their momentum going for the long run.
Of course, while answers abounded, we all know that many more questions come up any time you have twenty people working together on a dynamic subject.
So that’s what the core microfinance group is working on now – going forward with the essential task of figuring out the minute details that their colleagues asked about. These, of course, need to be nailed down before they approve any microfinance loans!
Microfinance Core Group participant Margaret leading more discussions with fellow co-op members George William and Joyce
This part of the work may not be fun and games. But it is essential!
Their work is almost ready and the business of supporting business well underway!
Filed under: Project Updates | Tags: africa, co-op, Fort Portal, microfinance, participatory video, photovoice, social enterprise, uganda, villages connected
A picture can start a thousand words. Here are a few of the week’s highlights from the media co-op members.
© Aliya / Villages Connected
© Aliya / Villages Connected
© Bashil / Villages Connected - a rocket stove
© Bashil / Villages Connected
© Bashil / Villages Connected
© George William / Villages Connected
© George William / Villages Connected
© Gilbert / Villages Connected
© Gilbert / Villages Connected
© Joyce & Sister Angela / Villages Connected
© Prisca / Villages Connected
© Samuel / Villages Connected
Filed under: Media Co-op Members | Tags: africa, co-op, Fort Portal, media, microfinance, uganda, villages connected
Here are the first 5 self-introductions of the Villages Connected Fort Portal media co-op members. They are an amazing group of dynamic and strong community advocates. Only a week or so into the training, the co-op members are still learning the ropes of photography and shooting video – including getting over camera shyness!
Watch Joyce, 19, Stella, 19, and Sister Angella, 26 in this short 2-minute video, then read about Gilbert, 23 and Geoffrey, 29.
Gilbert
I am Gilbert of the mutooro tribe and a resident of Fort Portal Municipality. I completed my high school education in 2010 and am now out of school. As a youth myself, I mobilized my fellow youth and started a small entrepreneurial decorating business with the little capital we had. We are now 10 in number struggling to ensure our project grows big to employ more youth outside.
About my community – Fort Portal, the pearl of Africa – it is a community of humble people who are economically poor but resilient. Being part of Villages Connected will help us to acquire knowledge about media, business marketing and innovative opportunities among others. These will help us develop ourselves and our community. Lastly, I hope to meet many people and share experiences and in the process, I hope to get more friends with whom I think we shall unite together and work for the best of our community.
Geoffrey
I am a highly motivated humble young man holding a Bachelor and Masters in Business Administration (Finance), currently a lecturer and the coordinator of Mountains of the Moon University banking and microfinance program. I have a strong passion for community service and this is the reason why I have developed a strong desire over time to contribute to community development by improving financial literacy and accessibility.
Uganda is a lovely country endowed with natural resources; we welcome partners in development to fight our common enemy “Mr Poverty”. As a microfinance teacher and researcher, blending media and marketing into microfinance is a very good new innovation that is currently missing in microfinance, and yet it is one tool that can enhance microfinance performance in rural communities in Uganda. Come join hands to create a better world to live in.
