Posts in category: 2023 Success Story

Monica Azure is a 42-year-old widow from Bongo Bogrigo in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region.

She became the sole provider for her three children, relying on selling koose (bean cake and kenkey for survival. She was introduced to the PROMIC programme by a friend who was a client.

Subsequently, she formed the Asongtaaba Group of Bogrigo with six (6) other friends of hers and they applied to the scheme.

Ms Azure received Five Hundred Ghana Cedis (GH₵500.00) from the first disbursement and invested in her koose and kenkey business. Her subsequent loans were One Thousand Five Hundred Ghana Cedis (GH₵1,500.00) and Two Thousand Five Hundred Ghana Cedis (GH₵2,500.00) respectively.

Monica has since procured a new deep freezer and put up a store for the trading of daily provisions. Over the period of her investment, her monthly profit has increased by 44.4%.

My first child was not able to go to Senior High School (SHS) because of my financial difficulties. This saddened me all the time. However, I was able to enroll her to acquire a vocational skill as a seamstress and she graduated in 2022. WOM/Swiss hand will forever remain in our heart and prayers

Monica Azure

• Our Success Story 1 for 2023 project is Baamah Nauh
• This Success was achieved in collaboration with ActionAid Ghana

Sarah Aziyaaba, a 45-year-old member of the Yagzore women’s group, embodies resilience and transformation. Originally reliant on farming and selling firewood, Sarah struggled to support her family’s needs, particularly her children’s education. Joining the Widow and Orphans Movement women’s group offered her a supportive community and opportunities for growth.

With WOM/AAG’s assistance in 2020, Sarah received two female goats to diversify her income. Through training in animal care, she successfully expanded her goat herd, surmounting challenges and boosting her earnings. The revenue from goat sales proved invaluable during financial hardships in 2022, enabling her to cover exam fees and launch a porridge business within the community.

I successfully grew my goat herd by eight, though two died, I sold three. The proceeds from these sales became a lifeline during a financially challenging period in 2022, covering exam fees and providing essential learning materials for two of my children. Additionally, it empowered me to venture into a porridge business within the community.
After gifting two female goats to a member of the group as agreed by my group and WOM/AAG, I still retain two goats. Starting the porridge business with an initial capital of 250 Ghana cedis, I’ve witnessed remarkable progress, now affording items totaling around 400 Ghana cedis

Sarah Aziyaaba

Despite hurdles, Sarah’s business flourished, underscoring WOM/AAG’s transformative impact on livelihoods. Her journey exemplifies the resilience and community backing vital for achieving financial stability and empowering women.

The Dapoore Women’s group was one of the group that benefit from the black soap and business management training with support fromthe KGL foundation.

The group discovered, while undergoing training on record-keeping and profit determination, that they were facing losses in their bar soap-making business—a realization that took them by surprise. Additionally, they found that the profit margin from their black soap production fell short of the industry standard.

Upon investigating the cause, they identified a crucial issue: despite having a scale, they rarely utilized it to measure raw materials and final products, resulting in uneven soap weights that often exceeded the intended target. Consequently, they continued selling the soap at the regular price, unaware of the discrepancies, leading to their financial losses.

Upon rectifying this by incorporating the scale in their subsequent production processes, their profits surged by 20%.

It is worth noting that, this group was one of the few ones that continued to produce bar soap before the training on black soap and business management training when most of the others had stopped due to losses. They kept injecting capital into their soap-making business not realising that it was not profitable until the training. The group is now more united and has proceeded to keep records for their other businesses too.

• Our Success Story 1 for 2023 project is Baamah Nauh
• This Success was achieved in collaboration with ActionAid Ghana

Baamah Nauh, a 47-year-old member of the Sakote women’s group in the Nabdam district is a farmer, pito breeder, and a mother of six children—2 girls and 4 boys.

Over the years, I have had the privilege of benefiting from a number of interventions, which include sensitizations, training, and participation in group farming initiatives. This sense of belonging has allowed me to share my experiences, learn from other women, and actively participate in the VSLA, enabling me to save for the future. In 2022 and 2023, WOM/AAG supported our group in organizing a demonstration on tilled and untilled land to find a climate-smart and cost-effective approach to farming. The knowledge gained from these activities motivated me to implement these new farming practices on my maize farm. Dividing one acre into two equal parts, tilling one part and leaving the other untilled. The results were remarkable—4 bags of maize from the untilled land and 3 bags from the tilled land.

Baamah Nauh

In 2023, she participated in an Agric business management training organized by WOM/AAG. It focused on record-keeping and marketing. The training enlightened her on better financial management practices.

Previously, I used to spend the money from selling pito without proper record-keeping. The training emphasized the importance of recording expenses, enabling me to calculate my true profit.

Now, I can save up to 50 Ghana cedis, a significant improvement from before. This newfound financial discipline has allowed me to purchase more raw materials for my pito business, turning my initial three bowls of malt into seven, ultimately enhancing the growth of my business.