Bracedes is a single mother of three children aged four, ten, and sixteen. Before she joined the Women Greengrocers and Bakers project, she was jobless and had no income to buy food, pay for medical care, and pay her children’s school fees. With few job opportunities available in the village and no capital to start a business, Bracedes was contemplating leaving her children in the village under the care of relatives to look for a job as a domestic worker in one of the big towns since life had become unbearable without a source of income to access basic needs. However, with the help of OLCAP, iMPACT direct, and AFAS, she didn’t have to be separated from her family as she was one of the 12 women to receive entrepreneurship skills and capital to start a greengrocery and bakery business in July 2022.
After operating for eight months, Bracedes is happy that her business is doing well. She earns daily income and profits that she uses to buy nutritious and balanced meals for herself and her family. Some profits also go towards paying school fees, books, and stationery for her children. Bracedes can also afford healthcare needs for her household. She told us she recently fell ill and could afford to buy drugs using profits from her green grocery business.
She has also expanded her business. Besides selling greengrocery and baked goods, she also sells other household items frequently requested by her customers, like sugar, salt, tea leaves, and cooking oil. She dreams of further expanding her business from a retail shop into a wholesale to supply other retailers with stock.
Bracedes also saves part of her income monthly in a table banking welfare group and plans to take a loan to help her expand her business. She is grateful for the support she received to start a business that provides income to meet her basic needs.
