Harrison Sakala at his shop in Mtenguleni

Two years ago, Harrison Sakala and his wife Margaret Mwanza were struggling to make a living from their small farm. The family were poor, and they often only had enough food to eat one or two meals a day. Now, Harrison and Margaret run a successful business selling non-prescription medicines, and are planning to expand the business in the New Year.

Harrison used to work at an outlet selling drugs, owned by his brother in Chipata. His brother died in 2004, and Harrison’s family returned to Mtenguleni village to farm. He became a member of the Mthaonga farmers’ group, and began saving small amounts of money with the local Financial Association (FA) in Makwatata village in the hope that he would be able to apply for a loan to start his own business.

In July last year, Harrison Sakala received a small loan of 400,000Kw (€62) from the FA. He identified a gap in the market for non-prescription medications at Mtenguleni, a small cluster of shops and businesses 30km outside Chipata city. He decided to use the knowledge he gained from his late brother, and spent just over half the money on buying over-the-counter medicines from a supplier in Chipata, and the rest on building a small shop.

“We had just two shelves of products at first,” he says. “But as we began to sell, we could buy more and more.”

In March of this year, with a larger loan of 1.1million Kwacha (€170), Harrison was able to travel to Lusaka to buy greater quantities of medications. He also stocked up on cosmetics, lotions and hair products, which are selling well.

“Our customers come from villages all around. Before this, people could only buy medications in Chipata, so most went without when they got a cold or flu, or even malaria,” says Harrison.

The family make repayments of 186,000Kw (€29) per month, in addition to the 5000Kw mandatory savings contribution that must be made by every member of the FA. Harrison and his wife are diligent about their repayments, and have constructed a small savings box were they put aside money on a daily basis.

“Since March, we have managed to finish building the shop. We have also built a house behind it where we live, and added an extension to the shop which we are planning to transform into a hardware store. We are benefitting from the profits already, even though we are still making repayments on the loan,” he explains.

“Once the repayments finish in December, we plan to use the profits to expand the shop to sell stationary and hardware. I do some carpentry myself, and I have to travel thirty kilometres to Chipata when I want to buy materials. There is a lot of construction going on around here now, and I think there would be a high demand locally for hardware materials. We are also located beside a school, but there is nowhere nearby selling paper and pencils. We will buy some stationary too to sell.”

The business has transformed the family’s livelihood completely. “Our family now has three meals every day, whereas before, sometimes we could only afford one. It makes me very proud that myself and my wife have done this for our children. Other members of my own family now respect me more too,” he says.

Harrison believes that the microfinance facilities offered by the FA are hugely beneficial for the community, but thinks that more business training should be provided. “A lot of us have very low levels of education. I went to school, but I was never good at maths, so I find it a real challenge to understand the loan repayments. My business skills are limited, so it is very difficult for me to calculate the shop’s profits.”

“I am reading a book on how to improve your business skills, but I think a course would be better,” he says.

Makwatata’s Financial Association is run by Micro Bankers Trust with the support of Self Help Africa. You can read more about how it operates in a previous post here.