Better Lives

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Kikondo, UG – SJB family produces, earns, saves, and invests in their dream – 7 Sep 2018

Wamukisa - ABCD - SJB Family_editedThe SJB family is achieving their dream of running the first grocery store in Nsujjuwe Village. Mama SJB first had the idea to open a grocery store in 2017. She joined Kigasa Women’s Group and was inspired by the opportunity to get a loan. She noticed that Nsujjuwe Village was one of the few villages that had no grocery store for basic goods like oil, salt, sugar, and flour.

In February 2018 the family started an organic vegetable garden with Wamukisa. Within one month they had reduced their grocery bill by 5,000 UGS (USD $1.40) per week. Soon they were also earning as much as 20,000 UGS (USD $5.60) each week selling vegetables. They saved all of this money to invest in their store.

In May 2018 Mama SJB got a loan from the Kigasa Women’s Group and finally had enough to open her grocery store. In June, the grocery store had a net income of 140,000 UGS (USD $39.20). The family plans to continue expanding the store to increase their net income and protect against competition from neighbors who may open stores in the future.

Both SJB parents have attended Wamukisa’s training sessions throughout 2018. Running the grocery store gives them great focus for learning and applying new procedures. So far they have attended training sessions about Life Cycle Design, Guiding (Prioritize, Inspect, Encourage), and Earning Income (Produce, Earn, Save, Invest).