By Betsy Ramser Jaime
‘Being born in a family of many siblings, life was not easy, because we could hardly afford meals which made it very difficult to survive,’ shares Victor Musengei.
While Victor completed primary and secondary school in Ndola, Zambia, he was not able to continue on to college as he had no way of paying the school fees.
He continues, ‘I managed to start my tailoring business with funding I got from piece work jobs which I was keeping. In my country, it is not easy to earn a living therefore youths do almost anything possible to survive.’
While most of Victor’s income comes from tailoring and designing, he also earns income through exchanging supplies for money and from his poultry venture.
In his free time when he’s not running his business, Victor enjoys watching socccer, reading, and preaching.
As part of the Zidisha community since June 2021, Victor has raised a handful of loans so far. With his first Zidisha funded loan he shared, ‘Once I raise these funds, I want to use them to buy cotton to make school jerseys which I can supply to schools. This will earn good profits for me which I will use to repay the loan and grow my business.’
After this, Victor continued to purchase additional cotton and with his income from his business he is able to pay his rent and also supply funds for school fees for his family members. With each jersey costing about 70 Zambian kwacha, and selling for 100, he’s able to make about 30 in profit on each jersey.
By August 2021, Victor was ready to add a new income stream by baking and selling small cakes as he explains, ‘With the money I am going to borrow I want to purchase white flour and baking powder for baking small cakes to resell and make profits which will help me to manage to pay my rentals and to pay my children and my dependents.’
With his following two Zidisha funded loans in October 2021 and May 2022, Victor continued to purchase baking supplies such as white flower, baking powder, sugar, and vanilla.
Expressing his appreciation for the Zidisha community, Victor writes, ‘First and foremost, I would like to thank my Zidisha lenders for the good support that I received from them. The funds that I received from my lenders I used them in investing in my small business which has helped me a lot in my life and not only me but also my family members. At first I was renting a two room house and now am shifted to a four room house and I manage to pay on time and manage to keep five dependents and we manage to eat good meals. All this is coming out from my business profit. I will continue praying for my lenders for the good vision that Jehovah God has given them to continue with the same spirit of support.’
Would you like to make a difference in the life of a business owner like Victor? Make sure to head on over to our Browse Projects page to see how other Zidisha entrepreneurs are changing their lives and communities.
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.
