Women taking charge of their money
The late Kofi Annan once said, “There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women.’’
This is true because many young Tanzanian women are coming up with business ideas that they incubate then later scale up to a new level giving them the financial freedom they need. Many women have already moved from being in the comfort zone of home makers to become successful entrepreneurs. This makes them able to live their dreams and give their children a better living standard and good education thus empowering them for the future.
Financial freedom is what every woman dreams about, for it does not only liberate her from the shackles of poverty but it also brings about peace of mind.
Lisa Mtaki,24, a lawyer by profession with Master of Laws (LLM) degree is yet to apply for a job. This is because she believes it is only through entrepreneurship that her dreams can be realised.
Ms Mtaki who lives in Sinza explained that she does not want to apply for a job until she sets up her business project.
She says that though she graduated with law degree, her priority is to first own a successful company that would help her generate enough income so that she could make her own financial decisions.
The first born child in a family of four adds that even when she was at the university she used to sell second hand clothes to fellow students.
“It is not that my parents were not in a position to give me pocket money, they used to give me money, I also applied for loan from the loans board but I still felt that doing business while at school was much better than waiting for pocket money from my parents,” she said.
She explained that financial freedom and doing moneymaking business were her long term desires unfortunately, most of the business projects she conducted failed to progress because she practically did not know how to separate running capital and profit.
“The money I obtained from my business was not properly managed because I did not have enough awareness on how to run business, this made me to practically fail in my business,’’ she said.
This however changed when she went through a training at Ndoto Hub; an initiative which offers young women with innovative ideas to learn how to grow and manage their business and assign tasks with timelines towards that growth.
She is now optimistic that she will be successful in her business and would have financial freedom with her funds.
Ndoto Hub allows women across the country with business ideas to apply for business training in order to equip them with entrepreneurship skills.
Apart from that, the platform brings women together through a competitive process to access workspace, business information, knowledge, markets and networks to boost their professional and personal growth.
Through Ndoto Hub platform, Ms Mtaki says she and other women were able to visit the National Economic Empowerment Council (NEEC) and learn a lot about business growth.
She said that when they visited NEEC, they were told to write business plan and submit.
I’m currently finalising writing my business plan, soon I will submit it to Ndoto Hub and I’m optimistic it will be successful.
Explaining how the initiative has helped her, she said it has helped her to build confidence and market her products anywhere she goes.
Ms Mtaki sells spices and is in the final stage of registering her company at Business Registration and Licensing Agency (Brela).
“If all goes well by next month my company will be registered soon,” she says.
Shule Direct, chief executive director, Ms Faraja Nyalandu who is also engaging women to take the entrepreneurship path through Ndoto Hub says that they decided to come up with such a platform to support women with low income with business skills.
“Currently, most women are venturing into moneymaking projects unfortunately, they fail to achieve their business projects successfully and this is because they don’t have enough knowledge on entrepreneurship,” she said.
According to her, bringing women together through a competitive process to access workspace, business information, knowledge, markets and networks boost their professional and personal growth.
The innovative platform which started training women in June, has so far equipped several with business skills in food processing and agribusiness.
Next month, they expect to start a new programme to take in more women across Tanzania.
She stressed that at the moment online application process is still ongoing and women with business ideas can now apply for the training.
“Successful women would be equipped with business skills in renewable energy, food processing and agribusiness,” she says.
Shule Direct program manager Ms Tulinagwe Mwampanga said before coming up with the initiative, they used to conduct small programs in secondary schools to equip female students with writing Curriculum Vitae (CV) and other development issues.
According to her, the demand for most women requesting for entrepreneurship training started increasing hence they decided to come up with Ndoto Hub to reach more women.
Explaining further, she said that with support from Tanzania Horticultural Association (TAHA) and High Commissioner of Canada they have so far trained nine women on food processing and agribusiness in the first cohort.
“After new cohort starts we will be covering different sectors, for instance we intend to train the next cohort on food processing, agribusiness and renewable energy,” she says.
“The cost during the training program would be Sh400,000 for those who can afford, those who cannot afford will be funded by sponsors,” she says.
We believe that entrepreneurship can unlock human potential and provide number of solutions towards community problems. Provision of knowledge and skill is important but to elevate this, it is important to build social and professional relations with other people who share similar personal or career interests/activities.
The innitiative provides an opportunity for members of the community to meet and network with other leaders, investors and potential clients through various events and daily activities.
According to Plaid for Women blog, more women are graduating from college, becoming the primary breadwinners in their homes and reaching new levels of career success than ever before.
Women are now the primary breadwinners in many households and they are owning more private businesses thus employing more people and owning wealth. The wealth that women control is expected to grow in the coming years.
Ms Faraja Nyalandu seems to concur as she said that it was common for women to experience a period of change during their 40s or 50s by whether it is career, marriage or anything else...but, sometimes even a small setback can have a lasting financial impact therefore, it is vital for women to have their finances under control.
“Financial independence compels women to rely on themselves for their survival. They do not need to ask for anything, it gives them the liberty to lead the life they want and achieve success,”she said.
