AYC’s Entrepreneurship & Financial Literacy Program Women’s Business Training Means a New Future for Gracious and Nonsiku
By Annabel Mumba
Annabel Mumba is AYC’s Donor Relations Coordinator in Zambia. She is a Scholarship Fund recipient, high school graduate, and also one of our Success Stories.
Co-written by Pamela O’Brien, African Education Program’s Development Director, who is mentoring Annabel as she pursues a journalism degree.
Gracious and Nonsiku are both graduates of AYC’s Entrepreneurship and Financial Literacy Program Women’s Business Training. Despite graduating in two separate cohorts, the two have formed a strong bond and are succeeding in their respective businesses as they collaborate.
Gracious, a 34-year-old mother of four, has spent her entire life in business. Her mother used to bring her along as a young girl as she sold various vegetables around her community, and she has since grown up to carry on with the same business. Gracious started her business without any formal training or knowledge of business management, relying on her experiences and observations from her fellow entrepreneurs and her mother. However, she did not see much progress in her efforts to make a profit.
She was among the women chosen to attend AYC’s Women’s Business Training in 2022, and she was eager to get started. She was nervous about the training because she had little background in education and had only completed the seventh grade, but she was happy to be in the classroom again and graduate at the end of the training.
Gracious and Nonsiku support each other at the local community market.
Gracious was relieved when she discovered other women who were learning in the same way she was! She went through the four-month training with an open mind and saw her business begin to change. She quickly realized that the lessons she had learned were very simple to apply to her business every day. She valued the lessons on profit and loss management, customer service, and record keeping. These were things she had not yet incorporated into her business and she didn’t know that they existed.
Gracious and her daughters, Ruth and Diana, show the beautiful vegetables sold to the local community.
Two of Gracious' children attend the Amos Youth Centre (AYC) and benefit greatly from the programs that are available. Ruth, her eldest, began coming when she was in the fifth grade and she is now in the eleventh grade. Ruth enjoys participating in clubs such as Reproductive Health and has received a variety of menstrual products. The Academic Tutoring Program has also enabled her to consistently rank at the top of her class.
Diana is Ruth's sister and she also comes to the center regularly. She is now in 8th grade and loves to attend the Spelling Bee and Creative Club. Gracious is happy to know that her children are attending school. Her desire is to see her daughters lead a different life from hers. She wants them to be educated and accomplish their dreams, but she lets them help her sell at the stand from time to time because she also needs them to learn business skills.
Gracious’ monthly profit is K1000, approximately $54.00 USD, because the business has been struggling, but despite the difficulties, she is in a better position than before the training. She hopes to raise enough funds to start a large business. Her ambition is to own a large grocery store that will serve the entire community. She is thankful for the training because it has allowed her to grow her business and begin to dream again. Her family is living a better life now that her business is doing well and can meet all of their needs.
Gracious also mentioned that the regular coaching visits she receives from Violet, the Entrepreneurship Coordinator, have helped her keep up and remember everything she learned from the training. Regular coaching visits are critical because they help track the women's progress and identify areas where they may need assistance or retraining in specific lessons.
“The training has helped me so much. My business is doing well, and I am happy. Each time Coach Violet calls or visits to check on my business, it reminds me of all the lessons that I have learned.”
Nonsiku has been in business for only three years and has spent the majority of her time taking care of her family as a housewife, but when her husband, who is the sole provider for the family, lost his job, she decided to begin selling vegetables to her friends and community to take care of her family. Her husband found another job working in a mine, but she has continued her business as it has given her happiness and a new sense of freedom.
As a recent graduate of the Entrepreneurship and Financial Literacy Program Women’s Business Training, Nonsiku is surprised by how quickly her business is changing. Her business is doing well and producing a profit. Her monthly profit was less than K300 ($16.00 USD) prior to the training, but she is now making more than K600 (approximately $33.00 USD) and has been saving money by opening a savings account with a local bank.
Nonsiku is also putting money aside for a bigger business, which she plans to begin in 2024. She wants to start selling secondhand clothes locally known as 'Salaula' because it is more profitable. She has also incorporated customer management and record keeping lessons into her daily operations which has been very helpful.
Luka, one of her children, is a member of the Amos Youth Centre and is doing well in school thanks to the one-on-one tutoring programs. He is an active member of the Conservation and Art Clubs.
Nonsiku receives her graduation certificate from Lumuno Chongo, AYC’s Director of Programs.
“I am grateful for the training and all the knowledge that it provided me with. I am pleased with the results I am seeing in my business. It is growing, and I cannot wait to have a bigger business soon. I am now the proud owner of a business.”
Because Gracious and Nonsiku both sell in the same market, they've formed a small support group with another graduate, Georgina, who graduated in the third cohort. These women have experienced transformative growth in their lives and businesses, all thanks to the partnership between Street Business School and the Amos Youth Centre in the formation of this training program.
The stories of Gracious and Nonsiku and the combined success of their businesses after receiving training are not the only ones that remain to be told. Violet, who has been coaching these women, is overjoyed to have so many success stories to share.
“It makes me very happy to hear how well their businesses are doing. As they continue to connect and succeed, I believe the women have formed a small community. During the trainings and coaching visits, they are able to share their challenges with me, and we work together to figure out how to overcome them.”
