For just $150, you can change a person’s world by helping them to start their own business in Uganda.

Multigenerational poverty is common in developing countries. Illiteracy, poor health, and unemployment compound a person’s ability to break the cycle of poverty. In 2017 we developed a sustainable microfinance model providing people the opportunity to climb out of extreme poverty through hard work and to develop a foundation which can benefit future generations in Masese.

With the cooperation and guidance from the Uganda team, composed of local educational, civic, and religious leaders, we created the Masese Microfinance Network whose goal would be to improve the economic, familial, and educational outcomes for the people in Masese through microfinance loans.

In July 2017 the Masese Microfinance Network was launched and in August the Uganda and U.S. teams met to process the first round of applications, resulting in six microfinance loans averaging $60 per loan. All six of the loans were made to women and demonstrated a variety of business opportunities including a vegetable stand, a beauty salon, tailoring and dressmaking, and the sale of charcoal.

Although loans are defined as interest-free, the teams established a payback model in which part of each payment had a small interest component. Once the loan was fully paid by the loan recipient, the accrued “interest” was returned to the loan recipient. The interest component was intended to act as a tool to help motivate entrepreneurs to save a portion of their proceeds in order to reinvest in their business.

We deeply appreciate your generosity and donation! It will help impact the future of not only Jinja, but Eastern Africa!

Any and all donation amounts are tax-deductible and go 100% toward funding the micro-finance projects.