It Started With Three Chickens

 

Women start their own businesses because it's a long term, sustainable solution to ending poverty and supporting their families. That’s why we started Fund: Her Village Venture to help women in Malawi start new businesses and open doors for girls to go to school.

Here’s a story from one of our Fund Advisors, Tomaida Banda, in Zimbabwe. Tomaida works with many women launching their own businesses so when she’s excited about a story, we’re excited too.

Margaret's Story: Empowering Women...with Chickens

A young woman named Margaret living in a rural area of Zimbabwe had never dreamed of running a business. After all, how would she fund it? How would she develop the skills to run it?

The coordinator of Chiedza, one of our Firelight partners in Zimbabwe, suggested ways that Margaret could become financially stable to support her family. If Margaret could start a business, it would support her and her family well into the future.

Margaret was given three indigenous chickens to help her fund her entrepreneurial effort. This simple yet life-changing donation made a significant impact in her life and community. Margaret was able to turn these three chickens into a brood of over 100 chickens.

She is now a successful businesswoman who has touched the lives of many others.

Margaret's children are well taken care of now. She has ample resources to afford schooling for her own children as well as four other children that she has taken responsibility for too. Margaret's children have seen first-hand how perseverance and hard work can lead to tangible and meaningful outcomes.

She’s touched her community as well. This success has allowed her to work with other women in the community, supplying one of the largest hotels in Manicaland. Her entrepreneurial skills and successes have boosted her confidence as a businesswoman, and now she's expanded her poultry enterprise to include pigs.

Margaret's story is an example of the strength an individual has within, and how small efforts ignite big goals. With little support, Margaret was able to stop poverty for herself, her family, and send her children to school.

Fund: Her Village Venture provides support for women like Margaret who do so much with so little. It's over halfway funded and you can help us close it! Make a donation now and help more women succeed and open doors for girls in Malawi.