By Daniel Carvalho
When Paulson Tembo heard about Zidisha in 2015, he had already been running his technology services company for three years. Recognizing his entrepreneurial drive, a friend had suggested that he take a look at Zidisha to see if it could help him take his business to the next level. He immediately signed up and took out his first loan which he used to buy a ink cartridge for the copy machine he had. Since then he has taken out more loans to buy two printers and a much better copy machine. This has helped his business steadily grow.
Tybentz Technology Services is strategically located in a small commercial center surrounded by five government schools and a newly built private school, so most of Tembo’s customers are students. Another reason he chose to have his business here is because of the cheap rent, which is due to the fact that the business is housed in a small room made of tin. But Tembo prefers having his business here than in the nicer structure where his business was previously located since so much of his earnings during that time would go towards paying the rent.
Tembo’s business acumen and the loans he has gotten from Zidisha have helped his business grow to the point that he now spends most of his day providing technology services at schools and businesses while his business partner along with a young man they’ve employed attend to customers at their shop. Tembo is also a volunteer mentor for Zidisha, meaning that he is constantly telling people about the service and assisting them in signing up and securing a loan to help them grow their business. He generally targets young people at his church who seem interested and motivated in starting up their own business.
Entrepreneurs like Tembo demonstrate the significant impact that low-cost, accessible loans can have on a person’s life and in helping them achieve their professional goals.
