Saving for a Brighter Future

Anican Prosy and her family were totally dependent on her husband’s income. While the family lived in a small Ugandan village, Prosy’s husband worked at a recording studio in a town nearby.

Prosy and their three children depended on his income to buy household items and clothes, and to pay for school fees.

The family worked hard to maintain a small farm, but most of the money her husband earned went toward other expenses, leaving very little money for them to invest in growing more produce.

With few crops and little income, providing food for the family was a challenge. Prosy could only buy food from the market if her husband gave her money.

The amount he gave her was only enough to cook one balanced meal per week for the children.

Through a local savings group, Prosy was introduced to training in household finances led by World Renew.

“When I joined the group, I received different trainings on saving,” said Prosy. “We were trained on the importance of borrowing money as loans and how to use the money borrowed meaningfully.”

All of the trainings Prosy attended challenged her to start a business that would help her decrease her family’s dependence on her husband’s income. She decided to borrow enough money from her savings group to start a business selling mukene, a small sardine-like fish.

After a month, Prosy was able to pay back what she borrowed and earn a profit from her sales. Later, Prosy took out two more loans to increase her capital and purchase more fish to raise and sell.

Over the course of Prosy’s business growth efforts, her profit nearly doubled. The income she has been able to provide for her family has been life-changing.

Now her children can eat balanced meals three times a week, even when her husband hasn’t contributed to their income. Prosy can also purchase school materials and clothes for two of her children.

Household items are now a shared responsibility in Prosy’s home, and the family’s ability to support their farm has improved.

The family used their profit to increase the size of their tilled land from two acres to four acres so they can raise more crops.

Prosy used the most recent loan from her savings group to buy a goat, clothes for her children, and to pay for building a new house.

“I will continue with my saving and my business so that we can complete our construction work and buy more goats to help us in the future to pay school fees for our children.”