By Betsy Ramser Jaime
A teacher by profession, Francisca Marfo has a lot of roles in her community and family. In addition to being a teacher, she works part-time as a beautician and also has a decorating business. She’s also married and has four children.
In her decorating business, Francisca is able to help her fellow community members create beautiful events for themselves and their loved ones. The events that she works often include weddings, naming ceremonies, birthdays, and funerals.
For events, Francisca decorates everything from houses, to tables, to cars.
In her nine months with Zidisha, Francisca has already raised 8 loans to help support her business. One of the greatest benefits of Zidisha is that Francisca has been able to raise funds and put the money to the area that needs the money the most.
For instance, while most of her loans have funded her decorating business, she even raised one loan to purchase tablets and software for the children in her classroom.
With her first three loans in August 2020, Francisca was able to purchase balloons and other materials and inventory for her events as needed. The following month, in September, as Francisca requested her next loan, for $209, she shared, ‘I plan when I get the money am applying for I will use it to buy items I need to do my decoration work. For instance, when there is a wedding, I need a place where pictures can be taken and I need materials that can help me decorate to look very natural that will make people like my work.’
Over the course of the next three months, Francisca raised loans of $303, $389, and $568, allowing her to elevate her business with new merchandise to meet the demands of her customers.
Like many Zidisha entrepreneurs, Francisca is multi-passionate. She loves her decorating business and also loves her students and work as a teacher. Recently, in April 2021, she even raised a loan of $988 to benefit her classroom with tablets as she shared, ‘Am a teacher and at the same time too, I decorate houses or programs. But the purpose of this loan is to buy teaching aids like tablets installed with jolly phonics. I will connect the tablet to the laptop and make the children listen to it.’
Would you like to help other entrepreneurs like Francisca? Make sure to head on over to our Browse Projects page to see what our Zidisha business owners are doing around the world.
Betsy is a Writer and Editor living in Florida with her husband. She has been writing with Zidisha for 5 years and loves sharing the inspiring stories of Zidisha entrepreneurs. You can connect with her on her personal website.
