Following a feasability study into the area,  a group of FutureSense volunteers joined one of the Foundation’s partners from a local women’s cooperative to identify local women who would benefit from our livelihoods programme.

17 women came forward to be considered for grants and volunteers Sami Haouili, Sam and Jordan conducted interviews with potential candidates to determine which had the greatest need and potential. As with all Foundation grants rounds, this process consisted of one-on-one discussions and visits to their home and place of work to build a profile of their background and potential business plans.

The women’s level of need was determined by relative poverty, living arrangements, number and capacity of dependent family members and the scale of impact that an improved livelihood might have on all these. Their business potential was assessed based on the strength of their business plan, how the grant would be put to use and whether their business would be sustainable in the long term.

After a series of meetings Sami, Sam and Jordan decided upon a list of 6 recipients in the Ilboro grants round:

Agnes Faustin

Agnes' Roadside Stand

Profile: Agnes is divorced and lives in a small one room house with her three children. She is HIV positive, having been infected by her cheating husband, but fortunately her children have tested negative.

Livelihood: Agnes has run a small fruit and vegetable stall for over 5 years, but earns only 15,000 Tanzanian Shillings (around £6/$9) each week, which is barely enough to support her family. Agnes has done well to sustain her business, but has been unable to escape poverty and improve her family’s standard of living.

Business plan: Agnes would like 50,000Tsh to expand her stall and sell fruit and vegetables that are not grown in Ilboro, which have been requested by her customers. Agnes has a handful of loyal customers but needs to attract more to improve her income.

Proposed actions: To help Agnes expand her business and improve her living situation the FutureSense team has recommended issuing a loan to Agnes. She is not naturally ambitious or confident, but she has proven she can sustain a stable business and with support and advice, she has the potential to improve her family’s life.

Berta Alexi

Mama Alex's Fried Fish Stall

Profile: Mama Alex is HIV+ and takes treatment drugs regularly. Her children have tested negative for the disease, but her son, Alex suffers from severe injuries sustained in a traffic accident and both he and his wife are unemployed. Mama Alex’s provides for both, as well their newly born son, her own daughter and her grandson, who was abandoned when his mother ran away.

Livelihood: Mama Alex runs a popular fried fish stall that is a favourite lunch spot for nearby businesses and workshops. She has a number of regular customers and it is not uncommon for her to sell all her produce by the early afternoon. However, Mama Alex spent all her savings on her son’s medical bills and now supports 5 other members of family, so she is very poor and under pressure to sustain business, despite her increasingly dilapidated stall.

Business plan: Mama Alex is requesting 100,000Tsh to buy more fish from the market, along with cassava, fries, bananas and oil, which would allow her to sell more plates each day. Her stall is well-positioned on a busy alley so attracting more customers is achievable.

Proposed actions: The FSF team has proposed funding Mama Alex’s stock expansion and giving business training to increase sales, but they have also suggested improving the stall itself. Currently it is covered with a dirty tarpaulin, which is full of holes. This would provide no shelter for her cooking or customers in the rainy season and Mama Alex cannot afford to take the drop in business this would cause. Sami and his team are also looking into working with Mama Alex’s injured son as a grant recipient.

Catherine Mesa

Catherine's House

Profile: Catherine lives a very difficult life, having been outcast from her family for religious reasons after marrying her husband, who subsequently abused and abandoned her, and has refused to give financial support to their three children. Catherine’s son Peter no longer attends school because she family cannot afford his tuition fees and he is depressed with little to occupy him. The family lives in a small one room house in a field of banana trees and live a desperately impoverished existence. Since our initial interviews with Catherine she has also contracted malaria so this is a very difficult time for her.

Livelihood: Catherine used to make 2,000Tsh per day working as a waitress at a local restaurant but since it closed she has struggled to make ends meet. Nowadays she roams the streets trying to sell used cloth and braid hair. She earns around 7,500Tsh each week, which is simply not enough to support her family.

Business plan: Catherine realises that selling second hand cloth is not a sustainable business and she’d love to make a living through hairdressing. Currently she does braids and rastas for school girls, who have little money themselves, but by attracting a more diverse clientele Catherine could increase her income significantly. While her ultimate dream is to own a salon, she would like to start by renting a small room big enough for a chair and cushions, where her clients could sit while she braids their hair. She could also use this space to display her cloth allowing her to combine her two businesses.

Proposed actions: The starting costs for Catherine’s business are likely to be high (around 200,000Tsh) but the team is keen to support her ambitions. There are similar businesses in the local area, but Catherine will compete on price and customer service. She is a young and enthusiastic woman who is determined to give her children a better life, so there is every confidence she will succeed. While FSF will provide the necessary capital and business support, Catherine will improve her hairdressing skills by learning from friends and neighbours.

Fatouma Shabani

Fatouma Shabani

Profile: Fatouma lives with her two children, Zahara and Maliki, in Mianzini. While she lives in better conditions to other potential grant recipients, Fatouma has tested positive for HIV and was abandoned by her husband a few years ago, so she has a genuine need for support.

Livelihood: Fatouma is a skilled hairdresser and works in nearby Ilboro. She rents a space outside a local convenience store where she does braids, rastas and other hairstyles on request. Fatouma earns an average of 25,000Tsh per week at her busiest and around 10,000Tsh in the rainy season. She has impressive hairdressing skills and knowledge and is well thought of in the community, but works with very basic equipment while her customers sit on the floor.

Business plan: Like Catherine, Fatouma hopes to open her own hairdressing salon and has requested a 300,000Tsh grant to allow her to buy a second hand hairdryer and the hairdressing products she needs. Coupled with her skills and reputation, this investment would allow her to attract more customers and create a more sustainable livelihood to support her family.

Proposed actions: Fatouma’s requested grant is more than the maximum amount allotted for an individual HIV grant, but the team see a lot of potential in Fatouma and are keen to explore different options for her business expansion. She was one of the few interviewees to provide a business plan within a few days of our initial request, and immediately revised her priorities to fit the limited funds available, so she has shown considerable potential for growth. Sami suggested the idea of entering a joint venture with Catherine (see above) and while Fatouma was not initially keen, discussions are ongoing. In the meantime, FSF will arrange business training and allocate funds for investment.

Miriam Joelle

Miriam's Dilapidated Chicken Coop

Profile: Miriam is a widowed mother of eight who has a house and land at the upper end of Ilboru Juu. Four of her children live at home, though none are at school or in regular employment and only her daughter Celia, helps with the family business.

Livelihood: Miriam runs a number of business activities, though none are successful or sustainable. Her primary work is in arts and crafts, making bead necklaces and bracelets and selling these to at a Maasai market or to tourists at hotels. However, this market is dwindling and although she can make 30,000Tsh per month in tourist season, it brings in almost nothing during the rainy season. Miriam is also part of a cow farming scheme and has the land to support this, but her cows are either impotent or do not produce enough milk to make it a viable income source. Finally, Miriam owns a chicken coop but like much of her possessions, it is in a state of disrepair. Because of this she is in dire need of financial support.

Business plan: Miriam’s arts and crafts business and cow breeding schemes have reached dead ends and she is keen to make a living raising chickens. To do this she will need to be provided with an initial stock of hens and roosters and given funds to improve her chicken coop to acceptable standards.

Proposed actions: The FSF team believes Miriam is a worthy recipient of a grant, but she needs to instill confidence that she will care for her chickens, and not let the business fall into disrepair like her previous endeavours. She appears to be a hard worker but struggles to complete her daily tasks and only her daughter, Celia, makes an effort to help her. She also lacks basic business knowledge as shown by her struggle to explain her pricing strategy for her Maasai crafts products. However, she is very enthusiastic to learn and would benefit from the FutureSense Foundation business training and chicken breeding class. Given progress in these the FSF team recommends a grant providing a minimum of 10 hens and 2 roosters.

Theresia Alfonse

Theresia Hard At Work!

Profile: Theresia is a hard-working widow who lives in the Ilboru area. She rents a one room house, which she shares with her 4 daughters (aged 9-16) and Esta (14 years old), who helps Theresia on her food stalls.

Livelihood: Theresia runs two stalls in Ilboro’s main market, one selling vegetables and the other selling fish and fries. She earns around 45-50,000Tsh per week from these, but much of this goes towards paying the rent for her house and stalls. Esta helps Theresia on her stalls and is paid a monthly salary of 20,000Tsh.

Business plan: Theresia is keen to grow her restaurant business by expanding her range of products. She hopes to rent a place nearby where she can open a small kiosk or small seating area for patrons. Ideally this would be furnished with a fridge, which would allow her to sell soda and beer alongside her food. It would also mean she could keep fish fresher for longer, allowing her to buy it in larger quantities for a better price.

Proposed actions: Unfortunately fridges do not come cheaply and are beyond the usual budget of FSF’s individual business grants. However, there is a possibility that a fridge could be obtained from Coca-Cola, though this could only be used for their soda products. In the meantime, the FSF team will keep looking for an affordable alternative. Theresia has many dependent children and demonstrates a good attitude and understanding of business so she has a lot of potential to succeed. Theresia will be invited to a FSF training session and given support to expand her business while we allocate funds.

Business Development

Samson lives in Ngaramtoni, a village located 45 minutes away from the city of Arusha. Both him and his wife are HIV positive, but his broad smile and engaging manner made him top of the list of potential recipients for livelihood support.

Samson received a grant of 100,000 Tanzanian Shillings (£50) from the FutureSense Foundation in a round of grants distributed in May 2010.

The grant has allowed him to expand his small bar, which is situated on the main road to Nairobi. Before he was only able to sell chai (tea), but he now sells chapattis and is building a new, larger premises for the bar.

Samson was delighted with the grant and support he received. He said it has helped him to cover his family’s needs with much greater ease, and for the first time he was been able to buy school uniforms for his three children.

Samson’s commitment and charisma have made his bar a great success and he hopes to continue his progress in the coming months.

To find out more about volunteer work and charity fundraising in Africa, visit our Tanzania page.

Volunteer in Tanzania

Esther Samson received a grant to build a chicken house and buy 10 chickens in the May 2010 Ngaramtoni round of business grants.

Esther has worked hard and is very positive about her business, which she thinks will generate enough profit to support her two children, aged 4 and 10. The chickens will provide income for general living expenses, such as school fees, food, and whatever else is necessary.

Before her involvement in the livelihood support programme Esther’s opportunities were very limited and she used spend her time plaiting hair for her neighbours and friends.

Esther now makes much better use of her days and enjoys the time spent breeding and tending to her chickens. By developing her own business Esther has gained new focus in her life, which has been one fo the biggest benefits of the livelihood programme. She now plans to expand her business by adding four more chickens to her coop.

To find out how you can help women like Esther with volunteer work overseas, please contact us.

Women's Empowerment

3½ years ago Dorcas received a £60 grant to set up a small business selling vegetables at market.

She has since become one of the livelihood programme’s most successful entrepreneurs, managing to quadruple her business’s capital.

Dorcas’ success has allowed her to send her three children to fee-paying schools and she has even considered expanding her business to sell second-hand clothes. Further success might allow her to buy land to grow more vegetables.

Dorcas’ success is built on diligence, determination and self-discipline and she certainly deserves all the success she has achieved!

To find out how you can help entrepreneurs like Dorcas on your gap year or career break, take a look at women’s empowerment programmes with Inspire.

Kaloleni Community Development

Kaloleni Primary School is located on the outskirts of Moshi and has traditionally been one of the poorest schools in the area. Suffering from a severe lack of funding and dilapidated buildings, the FutureSense Foundation was quick to identify it as a school in need of volunteer support.

In 2009, a group of students from Chrysalis boarding school in Montana took part in a cultural exchange programme in Tanzania, part of which involved volunteer work at Kaloleni. The students worked towards improving the facilities at Kaloleni and contributed to a range of important tasks including:

• Construction of a perimeter fence to enclose and secure the school grounds
• Refurbishing classrooms by painting walls and cementing floors
• Redeveloping a toilet building that had come to be used as accommodation for teaching staff
• Replacing missing football goal
• Digging ditches to divert water from courtyard, playground areas and around football pitch

Voluntary Work

These improvements made a huge difference to Kaloleni school, allowing its students to learn in a safe and supportive environment. However, Chrysalis recognized that there was still much more that needed to be done. With this in mind, they set about raising $10,000 to be put towards:

• Providing a reliable supply of clean drinking water
• Renovating the school kitchen to help cater for the 800+ students and staff
• Completing the perimeter fencing with gate
• Funding development of computer room
• Buying adequate numbers of textbooks
• Supporting students orphaned by AIDS by paying for their lunches & school equipment

Chrysalis school actually managed to raise more than their original target and through the FutureSense Foundation have donated $13,000 towards the development of Kaloleni school. This money will go a long way towards securing the future of young Tanzanians in Moshi and demonstrates the positive impact that volunteer work and charity fundraising can have in the developing world.

Interested in volunteering abroad or contributing to charity work in Tanzania? Find out how you can get involved.

1. livelihood support programmes
2. education support programmes
3. child welfare support programmes
4. programmes in other areas

The FutureSense Foundation is providing financial support to partially fund teachers’ salaries, allowing the school to employ an adequate number of teachers and helping to improve the quality of education available for students. This financial support works in tandem with volunteer work carried out by career break and gap year travellers to safeguard the long-term development of the local community. This education support programme shows how small contributions can make a huge difference to the lives of disadvantaged communities overseas.

Interested in teaching in Nepal or charity fundraising for an education support programme? Find out how you can get involved.

1. livelihood support programmes
2. education support programmes
3. child welfare support programmes
4. programmes in other areas

1. livelihood support programmes
2. education support programmes
3. child welfare support programmes
4. programmes in other areas

Kaloleni Volunteer Work

In 2009, a group of students from Chrysalis boarding school in Montana visited Tanzania as part of a cultural, volunteer and adventure travel programme. Students worked at Kaloleni primary school on the outskirts of Moshi, where they set about improving the school environment for local students.

With help from local staff and students, the Chrysalis volunteers repainted classrooms and repaired cracked floors, improved the on-site accommodation and helped to install a new football goal. Working alongside local children, they even managed to teach them some English words and learnt some Swahili in return!

So touched were they by the experience, the school has since ‘adopted’ Kaloleni school and continues to help improving it through donations to the FutureSense Foundation. Back in the USA, donors have since raised $13,000 worth of aid for Kaloleni, which has been put towards providing clean drinking water, improving the school’s kitchen and supporting orphaned students.

For the Chrysalis students themselves it was a ‘life-changing’ experience as they came to recognise the contrast between their comfortable lives back in the USA and the poverty-stricken lives of many living in Africa. Having come to recognise how rewarding ‘giving back’ could feel, the students have gained a different perspective on life, while the school itself is now a safer, happier and more supportive learning environment.

Interested in supporting community development in Tanzania? Find out how you can get involved.