I Can Make It

By Betsy Ramser Jaime

‘My name is Ingrid Mumba. I am married with four children. I live in Lusaka’s Garden Township. Garden Township is a bustling area full of energy and creativity. The majority of the residents are involved in various businesses, such as food production, welding, brick making, and engineering work. I am an entrepreneur with a shop that is located next to my house.’

Ingrid’s business is a grocery store where she sells a variety of grocery products including, ‘sugar, bread, salt, etc.’ Her customers are the local residents throughout Garden Township.

As she joined the Zidisha community in 2020, she was renovating her shop and hoped to add on a salon. With her first loan in August 2020, she raised $16 and shared, ‘I plan to use the loan to buy various types of goods for my grocery store. Some of the goods which I plan to buy include, sugar, salt, biscuits and cooking oil.’

As 2021 rolled around, Ingrid was able to raise $24 in February and $39 in March, helping her to re-stock her shop with new inventory.

The following month, in April, she raised $63 and transitioned her efforts to her salon business, writing, ‘With the loan, I am planning to buy two blowers so that I restart my salon. I am looking forward to expanding my business as a hairdresser and that I can archive my goal, I know with your help I can make it.’

For many business owners, 2020 and 2021 have been full of ups and downs, as entrepreneurs face supply shortages with manufacturers and as customers try to be frugal and save money.

Fortunately for Ingrid, having two businesses, she has multiple streams of income, and when one is slow, she can put more effort into the other one.

In May 2021, she successfully raised $86 to purchase rice for her grocery business as it’s a popular food for children to take to school with them.

A few months later, in September and October, with loans of $91 and $128, Ingrid was able to purchase additional products and cosmetics for her salon.

Most recently on October 11, 2021, Ingrid took to her discussion page and shared, ‘The loan that I just completed has made the difference for me, the business is going smoothly just as I thought, even if sometimes it is slow it can’t affect my payments but I think my business is expanding. Dear lenders, I want to thank you so much for the help you have been giving me, am just looking forward to another opportunity for you to lend me another one, thank you.’

Would you like to make a difference in the life of an entrepreneur like Ingrid? Make sure to head on over to our Browse Projects page to see what other Zidisha business owners are doing around the world.