Masala Group

Here are Mohamed Tarawalie, Fatmata Mansaray, Jane Conteh, Ibrahim Sesay, and Zainab Conteh. They are small-scale business people in the city of Makeni in northern Sierra Leone. They named their group Masala. This will be their fourth loan from SMT/Kiva. With previous loans, these business people were able to expand their businesses and increase their profit margins, consequently improving their standard of living. They were able to provide their children with three meals a day, send them to school, and meet most of their daily financial challenges.

Mohamed Tarawalie (second from left) is the leader of this group. Mohamed is 38 years of age. He was born in Makeni where he currently resides together with his wife who is also a businesswoman. The two have five children, two of whom are in secondary school, two in primary school, and the last is still very young. Mohamed sells baking soda, garlic, onions, and vegetable oil. He has been a businessman for over ten years. With this loan, he will travel to neighboring Guinea, where the goods he sells are relatively cheaper to buy.




About Group Loans
In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a group of individuals bound by a group guarantee. Under this arrangement, each member of the group supports one another and is responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members if someone is delinquent or defaults. Learn more

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