The whole of July and beginning of August have proven to be very exciting! We had our quarterly loan issuance for our borrowers and it was fantastic seeing all of the woman excited about themselves, their families and the future. Now that we are 10 years in, it is hard to imagine what Buyobo was like before BWA and WMI. Our executive board here in Buyobo is stacked with amazingly strong, intelligent, hardworking and respected women who are a huge reason for the success of the program and their borrowers. They themselves started as borrowers and were the pioneers here in Buyobo who were ready to start their own business and become financially independent back in 2008.
If you were to tell Olive, Agnes, Jackie, Grace and Irene that in 10 years’ time they would not only be directing BWA but would lend a total $4,494,848 to 11,918 women, they would laugh, shaking their heads in disbelief while responding with the Ugandan “ayyhhhh” – but that is exactly what they have done! Because of this, Buyobo and surrounding communities are stronger and more prosperous. We invest all of our profit back into the organization which has allowed for community projects to extend farther than the women and our board mentors smaller lending programs that are looking to do the same thing as us. Talk about women and community empowerment!
I would like to end this post with a toast to BWA, its borrowers, WMI, our partners in Uganda, the US and across the world that have backed and partnered with us to allow us to grow into what we have become today. We don’t plan on going anywhere and we hope that you feel the same!
Notes from the Field 