Background

Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world, with an estimated average income of just $1,100 in 2007. Since July 2007 Five Talents have been working to establish a project known as the Mama Bahati Foundation in Iringa in the centre of the country. Iringa is a town of around 115,000 people, many of whom rely on small enterprise to provide for themselves and their families.

Project Description

The Mama Bahati Foundation (MBF) is a very new operation and as of March 2008 serves around 400 women in and around Iringa. This project was developed following a request from the Archbishop of Tanzania for a programme in the area, and we have worked closely with the Archbishop and the Diocese of Ruaha throughout the process. MBF works slightly differently to the other Five Talents' projects, with the main difference being that it lends exclusively to women. Within Tanzanian society women often play a secondary role and it was decided by the Diocese during the planning stages that they would like this operation to help change this situation in Iringa. By loaning funds exclusively to the female of the family-run business she automatically plays a role in the decision making process. We have heard from many of our female clients in other programmes that they have felt more important and included within their family and community because of our rule of loaning mainly to women, and hope that MBF will have a similar impact.

As of March 2008 MBF has offered training and loans to around 400 women in small business and enterprises and this number is increasing week by week as more people hear about our work. We are still putting in place our monitoring systems and so it will be a little while until we get a clear overall picture of the impact, but the initial responses have been incredibly positive. Many of our clients have been paying their loans back before the deadline in order to get new loans and we have heard stories of shops and businesses turned around in a very short time.

The project is named after this lady, Mama Bahati. She was selling bananas on the roadside in Iringa, trying to earn a living to support her seven children. One day Archbishop Mtetemela asked her what she needed to improve her livelihood. She replied that she needed just £4 to buy more stock to turn a bigger profit. The Archbishop gave her £4 and through hardwork and faithfulness Mama Bahati’s life was transformed. Her example has inspired the Mama Bahati Foundation.

Targets

We have played a large role in setting up MBF and continue to guide and advise the operation. Our aim is that over time our role will become less direct and that MBF will stand alone as an independent, sustainable institution. To reach this goal we have worked out a five year plan that will see the number of loan clients increase to 2,800 with a loan pool of £200,000 by the end of 2012.

More Information

Watch a film of our work in Tanzania here.

Edd Parker, a volunteer from the UK, has been working with our partners at the Mama Bahati Foundation, and you can read his blog here.

Click here to read the trip report from May 2008, here to read the report from November 2007 or here to read reports other projects.

Click here to read case studies from Tanzania and other countries.