Put a woman in business and she will put her children in school.

Jumpstart gives seed money to women, enabling them to start a business of their own design. These women are then able to better support their families.

Women form into groups of five or more to draft a business plan and apply for a grant or loan. There is generally one member who lives in a concrete house with a tin roof and locking door. This is essential if there are materials that must be kept safe. The majority of the women we work with live in mud huts with thatched roofs and a shared pit toilet. Water is carried from a community well by the women and girls.

Jumpstart requires grant recipients to open a savings account. This not only safeguards the money against theft, but also encourages responsible fiscal management.

Of the women we have polled, most are raising orphans as well as their own children. Many are single mothers with no other economic options. Many of the fathers have died of AIDS or moved to the cities in search of work.

Amano Buchingo was given a grant for farming.

Buyantashi Womens Club One harvests and sells cassava. Cassava matures in two years, is then dug from the ground, when it looks like a large sweet potato. It is soaked for two days in the river, peeled and dried in the sun before grinding at the hammer mill. The women and girls of the family accomplish all of this work.

Chilela Balunda Cooperative buys palm oil brush for five cents. They craft the branches into brooms, and sell them for over $1 each. While two members travel 8 hours by bus to the industrial Copper Belt to sell the brooms, the rest farm their small plot of land.

Kashikishi Home Based Care is an example of synergy among organizations: the women were granted sewing machines by UNICEF; the Zambian governmental organization Home Based Care provided a room in which to work; and the money from Jumpstart will be used to buy fabric, a door, a lock and bars for the windows to make their workroom secure.

Kosa Women’s Club sells maize.

Lyapuma Ladies Group is our youngest group of entrepreneurs. They are recent high school graduates, and plan to open a beauty salon. Emmeldah, from Lubuto (our local partner organization), is taking them under her wing, as she has her own salon. We are very happy to see young women embracing the entrepreneurial spirit.

The women of Mioma Women Beekeeping Enterprise walk miles into the bush to collect honey. To meet with us, they walked over 20 kilometers and presented us with a taste of their honey in a used juice bottle. Can it be, that the more the effort, the better the taste? I have never liked a honey so much; it tasted like the fragrance of a frangipani tree. They requested money to buy sterile containers for their honey, so that they can sell it by the roadside, thus increasing sales and profits.

Mabumba Women’s Club sells chisense (small dried fish) and other foods.

Tubombeshe Women’s Club wants to expand their existing Munkoyo business, a very popular fermented corn beverage (I was assured that it has a very low alcohol level). The women will buy fresh containers to sell the drink in, and larger quantities of raw material to increase their capacity.

Tutemwane Community Group sells rice.

Twala Women’s Club sells dry cassava.

Kosapo Women's Group initially sold fish at a very good profit. During the rainy season fish ban from December to April, the group makes clothing. With the profit, they buy fabric to make clothes for orphans. They are a very entrepreneurial group, and also very destitute. In 2009, Jumpstart gave them another grant to expand into growing and selling vegetables.

Twesheko (Kambwali Group) Due to skyrocketing transportation costs, this group found the business of selling rice at a distant market to be unfeasible. Therefore they switched to charcoal. Although producing and selling charcoal has a lower margin of profit, it is practicable, and successful.

Mumpa Women's Group has been selling fish. They want to expand into farming. Jumpstart gave them money for treated seeds, and they plant maize during the rainy season. They also sell ground-nuts (peanuts, which provide a good source of protein).

Mubamba Women's Group sells chisense fish (small dried fish). With their grant from Jumpstart, they were able to move into marketing larger fish, which has a better profit margin. During the yearly seasonal fish ban, they prepared additional acreage for cultivating maize and selling rice. They also bought a goat with their profits, and will sell the kids.

St. Paul's Catholic Church Women's Group sells cassava and maize.

Mano Mabulwa Women's Group is knitting and gardening.

St. Paul's Choir Women's Group sells beans, rice, and millet.

Hope of Faith Women's Club requested a loan of $250 to start an egg business. As Jumpstart was only willing to loan them $150, the women decided to sell various food in the market. Within one year, they not only repaid the loan in full, but also saved enough money for further investment. A year later we granted them another $150 loan, which along with their savings, was sufficient to get them jump-started in the egg business.

Ladies’ Kashikishi Churros Association demonstrates enterprise at its best. Jumpstart gave the Association a grant of $144 to buy materials to start a school lunch fritter business. Although the fritter business was profitable, the Association was forced to close down due to a cholera epidemic. The women switched their focus to selling charcoal. As the profit margin of the charcoal business was meager, they refocused to buying fish locally, drying it and re-selling it in the market.

Churros Ladies Group produces and resells charcoal. Although they are one of the most destitute of our groups, they have achieved small-scale financial with a mark-up on their goods of 300%. They are using their profits to buy food for their own children as well as the orphans in their care, and to keep the children in school.

Nchelenge Women’s Organization knits baby outfits, which sell very well during the rainy season. The women supplement the knitting by selling dried caterpillars – a good source of protein – and rice.

St. Peter’s Sewing CooperativeSt. Peter’s Sewing Cooperative began as a group of nine women wanting to help the orphans in their community. These women formed a sewing cooperative, which meets weekly to sew school uniforms for sale. The proceeds are used to support the orphans in their village. The Cooperative has become a vital part of the community.
Seeing the success of the Cooperative, Jumpstart gave the women another grant, this time to pursue other small business endeavors. The Cooperative has grown to over 30 women raising 135 children and 85 orphans, and now also consists of farming, fishing, baking, and running a school canteen.

St. Peter's Group III buys and sells fish during the dry season. During the rainy season, when fishing is banned, they switch to tailoring. They are using sewing machines funded by Jumpstart in 2007.

St. Peter's Group IV wanted to expand their cassava and ground nut cultivation in order to sell the surplus in the market. As clearing land is very heavy work, they sought start-up funds from Jumpstart to hire laborers to clear land already in their possession.

Tubombeko Women's Club sells maize. The women make trips by foot into the bush approximately once a month during the harvest season to buy produce as needed. During the rainy season they buy timber to make charcoal for sale.

Bwafwano (Ray of Joy Spouses) Ray of Joy is a school for orphans and vulnerable children, and teachers are compensated with only a token “incentive” for their work. Therefore the spouses are motivated by necessity to contribute to the family income. Bwafano buys and sells beans and ground nuts. Four women are raising 21 children, 6 of whom are orphans.

United (Twikatane) Women's Group sells chisense (small dried fish). During the rainy season, when it is impossible to dry fish in the sun, the group bakes scones. The group feels that they are now ready for a loan to raise chickens in order to support more family members. They are a group of five women raising 22 children, 10 of whom are orphans. In 2009 we were able to give them an additional grant to expand their business to include selling rice.

Natasha Female Group (Nchelenge Basic School) is comprised of eight women raising 25 children, 13 of whom are orphans. They have divided into two groups. Their new spin-off, Mama Waluse, is embarking on a venture to produce tie-dyed chitenge clothes. Their leader Josephine gained the confidence to initiate this group through the skills she learned from participating in the Human Capacities Course.