When women have a source of income, they are on the path to becoming healthy, empowered economic actors, therefore Women for women Rwanda with support from unrestricted funding from WfWI, continues to economically empower women by providing them with literacy, numeracy, business, and vocational skills training. in addition, WfW-Rwanda trains them on VSLA methodology to bridge the financial inclusion gap especially among rural women, hence, enabling them to start income-generating activities.
Business skill is one of the topics taught to women participants to equip them with key principles for them to start and manage income-generating businesses to increase their incomes at the household level
As a result of the business training, some of the trained participants started small businesses and they testify yielding good results from applying the business principles, such as good marketing, recording business transactions, etc. Mukamusoni, one of the participants in Rwamagana-Rubona, reported that after being trained, she invested her savings in a shoe-selling business where she now runs a shoe shop
Mukamusoni Jeanne is a survivor of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Her parents passed away during the Genocide against Tutsi when she was 2 years old. Her grandmother took her and her brother and looked after them. She paid school fees for her up to senior one because that time her grandmother stopped since she could not afford it, consequently, she dropped out of school. Jeanne became destitute, she had no medical insurance and struggled to get clothes and feed herself and her child.
Alternatively, she decided to become a hawker where she started selling different items like avocados and bananas but all in vain life continued to be bitter. Jeanne was very happy to have joined the program in August 2022 “I realized that it was a great answer to my problems. Through the program, I joined WfW–Rwanda VSLA group. After joining I started getting my stipend of 10.000 Rwf per month which I saved. Later I got a loan of 40.000Rwf from the VSLA of my business training cohort and I started a business selling sandals” said Mukamusoni Jeanne
She is enjoying this business and she gets 20.000Rwf as profit monthly, she combines this business of selling shoes with tailoring vocational skills training. “My dream is to continue this business and to run my own tailoring workshop with the aim of employing other vulnerable women” she added