Theresa Benya

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Theresa Benya by Christian Rural Aid Network in Ghana. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 7 months, Christian Rural Aid Network will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Theresa is a single woman of 50 years with three children. She received no formal schooling but works now as a food vendor selling kenkey. Kenkey is a traditional Ghanaian dish made from fermented maize. It’s generally eaten with fish and hot pepper sauce. Theresa also makes palm kernel oil and coconut oil to sell. Theresa decided to take out a loan from CRAN because her businesses were going well, but she didn’t have enough capital to expand it. With her first loan from CRAN, Theresa bought 3 sacks of maize for the kenkey, as well as palm kernels and coconuts for her oil producing business. She bought the goods in bulk and, as a result, paid a lower price for them than she had previously. Since using the loan, Theresa has further expanded her businesses by reinvesting her profits. In the coming year, Theresa hopes to take out another loan to grow the businesses even more.

Since taking out the loan, Theresa has more than doubled her susu savings.* She uses her savings to repay the loan and to pay for her children’s school fees. Her profits have also doubled, and she has had no difficulty repaying the loan.

Theresa reports that the loan has had a number of positive effects on her life aside from her business. Her increase in profits has enabled her to buy more food for her family than she could previously. In addition, her family had started to build a house but had to stop because they ran out of funds. Her increased profits helped them finish it, though. Theresa is grateful for CRAN and Kiva’s help, and hopes to take out another loan to raise her income further.

*Susu savings is an informal savings plan run by financial NGOs, credit clubs, and self-help groups. The clients pledge to save a set amount per day, and then for a fee equal to a day’s worth of savings, a collections officer visits each client on a regular basis to collect the deposit.