Fernando Fabiao Mucavele

Fernando lived in the capital Maputo most of his life, completing primary school and working as a government employee for the FRELIMO Political Party. When he retired 3 years ago, he decided to open a bar in Ponta D’Ouro, a beach village on the border with South Africa, very famous for its tourism, especially among South Africans.

The bar is located near the village’s central open-air market and serves only Mozambican national brands. A glass of beer costs MTn 50 (US$ 2) and a bottle of rum, his most-sold product, costs MTn 150 (US$ 6). Fernando loves his bar and to serve clients. He has become quite close to some of them, and together they recently started to sell T-shirts and hats with Fernando’s brand name (“Fernando’s Bar – Ponta D’Ouro”). These customers produce the clothing in South Africa and bring it to Ponta for him to sell at the bar; the profit is split 50/50. A T-shirt is sold for MTn 350 (US$ 14) and hats go for for MTn 50 (US$ 2). With the bar, Fernando makes from MTn 50,000 (about US$ 2000) up to MTn 200,000 (US$ 8200) per month, depending on the season and South African holidays, and with the sale of clothes he is making up to MTn 100,000 (US$ 4100) per month, and he is incredibly satisfied about it.

On top of supporting his daughters, Fernando also helps 3 sisters and his mother who live in Zipeto, near Maputo. He goes to Maputo around once a month to buy inventory for his bar and spends around MTn 5,000 (US$ 200) in food for his family (in total around 15 people). As he doesn’t have a car, he goes with the minibus and pays MTn 300 (US$ 12.50) for the round-trip ticket.

Hluvuku is part of Fernando’s life. He has already had 5 loans that he used in the bar (for expansion and increase of inventory), the first one in August 2005 of MTn 6,000 (US$ 250). This sixth loan of MTn 30,000 (US$ 1200) will also be used to increase inventory and prepare for South African holidays in April. In the future, Fernando plans ask for a leasing loan to buy a good car to help him buy merchandise and sell his signature clothing at close beaches. He also dreams of building a small house in Ponta (he currently lives in the back of the bar) and a kitchen in the bar to sell food to his clients. With his motivation, charisma and will to grow his business, he is definitely going to succeed in life.