Village Enterprise
 |
From the depth of need and despair, people can work together, can organize themselves to solve their own problems and fill their own needs with dignity and strength. - Cesar Chavez |
Village Enterprise endeavors to break the cycle of poverty in East Africa through training, seed capital and mentoring for income-generating small businesses. Since its founding in 1987, the organization has helped create more than 23,000 microenterprises. A recent impact evaluation shows that 88% of its businesses operate beyond 1 year and 75% beyond 4 years. One-third of its entrepreneurs launch second businesses.
Our first two grants helped rural farmers in the Katine and Kamuda sub-counties of eastern Uganda start sunflower-production businesses. Sunflowers are a highly profitable and scalable agricultural crop used to produce cooking oil and healthy animal feed. A third grant alleviates poverty and protects wild life by funding 100 new businesses in the Budongo Forest in partnership with the Jane Goodall Institute. A fourth grant was used to roll out a new and improved Business and Financial Education Training Program for the ultra-poor in East Africa.
A fifth grant will fund the development of "business-in-a-box," a bundle of assets, business training, mentoring and savings services needed to launch a viable retail, service or agricultural business. Village Enterprise will also provide other essential training and services critical to sustaining and growing the business, such as specialized skill training and business and financial education including savings and loan group training.
Village Enterprise has made extensive use of PRW’s non-financial support which included an in-country visit to meet staff and business owners and assess market conditions. Review of the training program has been added as part of PRW’s non-financial support.
For more information, visit: www.villageenterprise.org or contact Jon Hamren at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .