A mother of four, Etenesh struggled to feed her family on what she produced. She couldn’t afford to take her children to the doctor when they were ill, or even to clothe them.

Her fortunes improved when she received two goats from Farm Africa. These went on to produce offspring, some of which she sold to earn money and two others she passed to other another struggling family.

Small business

Farm Africa has set up village savings and lending associations, which help members to save collectively and then take small loans from these savings to invest in small businesses.

Etenesh joined one of these groups to access credit to start a small business. She is now earning money by growing and selling ginger, which is in high demand in her local area.

Growing ginger

After the success of her first ginger harvest, Etenesh invested in seeds to plant the next season. She can now feed her family three meals a day for the first time:

“There is enough food in my family. I can afford to buy clothes for my children as needed. Beyond enough food supply to my family, now I have got friends who are confident in me to lend me money in case I need more to expand my business.”

We are working with women like Etenesh in two rural regions of Ethiopia by encouraging them to become involved in non-traditional ways of earning money. Thanks to our work where Etenesh lives, the number of women who own businesses rose from 33% in 2009 to 58% in 2011.