Young Strikers Group

Ahmed (right) is the leader of this group. Ahmed is thirty-two years of age. He was born in Makeni City, in northern Sierra Leone. He is married to a businesswoman who sells rice. The two have two children, both of whom are in primary school.

Ahmed has been in business for seven years now. Previously, he solely depended on running “Okada” (motor-bikes used for transportation) as his business. But with consistent loans through SMT, he has today diversified his business. Now, he owns a small kiosk where he sells both soft and hard drinks, cans of milk, sardines, bars of soap, and top-up cards (for all four mobile networks used here – Celtel, Tigo, Commiun and Africell). He also recharges mobile batteries for a fee of one thousand Leones. Both his wife and brother-in-law assist him in running the kiosk as he is still engaged in the Okada work.

He travels to Bamoi Junction (200 miles round trip) and Freetown (390 miles round trip) to buy the goods he sells. With a loan of Le 1,000,000.00 he will be able to buy four crates of soft drinks to add to the four crates he currently has in stock. He can also buy two crates of beer to add to the four he has today. A crate of soft drinks costs him Le 24,000.00, a crate of beer is Le 40,000.00 and a crate of stout costs him Le 66,000.00.

The most difficult challenge facing Ahmed is building up capital with his business. With only a small amount of capital, he is short many items that customers want. But with SMT by his side, he is optimistic that he will one day be able to get a large shop with a lot of goods.

With this loan and the profit it will generate for him, Ahmed will be able to solve most of his household problems, including the paying of school fees for his children, feeding the family, clothing them and providing medical care in case anyone in the family falls sick.




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