The power of secure savings
By Edward Fox: Opportunity UK’s Chief Executive
In the small but perfectly located Opportunity kiosk in the heart of the Lujeri tea estate we bumped into small holder farmer, Felix Lusewa.
Edward Fox with Opportunity client Felix Lusewa
His story blew me away. He’s banked with Opportunity for 4 years, having to travel some distance during that time until we started to put the new Mulanje network in that place. In that time he’s increased the size and profitability of his business substantially. I assumed he had benefited from a loan to achieve this but he said it was all down to hard work and the ability to save for the very first time in a safe place. Continue reading
Meet Joseph Meke
From Gareth Simpson, Opportunity UK’s Director of Philanthropy:
Last week, I met Joseph Meke in Malawi. Joseph has a well developed business buying and selling “maize” (corn). He’s a natural-born entrepreneur.
Opportunity Malawi Client Joseph Meke
When Joseph joined Opportunity in 2007, he made a monthly profit of around £120 – which is well above the norm. His Opportunity loans helped him buy his maize in bulk, saving transportation costs.
Every month he buys a bulk load of Maize grain from a rural area of Malawi. He pays a local farmer £3.40 for a bag of grain – creating a supply chain for poor farmers in the rural areas. By selling the bags at £5.60, Joseph has increased the monthly profit of his Maize business to £320.
Joseph used the increased profits to build 3 houses using local labour and materials. He lives in one with his wife, Zione, and their 3 children. So they now have a family home. He rents the other two properties which generates £44 profit a month. Continue reading
Meet Sellina
From Edward Fox, Opportunity UK’s Chief Executive:
Sellina has been a loan client in southern Malawi for 4 years and has seen a four-fold increase in her turn over. She used to grow and sell tomatoes to scrape a living. She wasn’t making much more than £50 a month.
Opportunity Malawi Client Sellina
That’s your stereotypical $2 a day person. But with the hand up of a small £80 loan, through an Opportunity Trust Group, she now runs a business that buys pigs from others, slaughters them and prepares them for retail sale through her butchery. She’s found an important and valuable niche in the market.
Four years on her group is still thriving and Sellina is still a client, making regular use of the bank-on-wheels when it stops in Thuchila (on Wednedays between 9am and 2pm). She still has a small loan of £160 but now most of her working capital comes from the savings she has built with her Opportunity Savings Account.
She’s now turning over £400 every month and looks well on it. She’s built a small house in the process and, unusually for this poor area has got electricity in her house. It just shows that in the right hands, a little loan can have a big impact…
Opportunity – everywhere you turn
From Gareth Simpson, Opportunity UK’s Director of Philanthropy:
When you meet so many inspiring people on field visits like this you wonder if the Opportunity Team have hand-picked the best stories and you don’t get the full picture.
Esther Malele at an Opportunity mobile bank
But Opportunity is a big name here. When I arrived at the airport I chatted to a taxi driver. I referred to the bank as Opportunity Bank – he responded as quick as a flash with “oh… OIBM” with the familiar use of the acronym that only a household name can have. When I switched on the TV for the first time, an advert was running for Opportunity’s mobile-phone banking. I was starting to get the sense that Opportunity is part of the fabric of Malawian life. Continue reading
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