Tamemgbo Group

This is Abdulai Kamara, Mahawa Gbla, Kadiatu Kamara, Alie Kamara and Fatmata Sesay. They called their group "Tamemgbo," a Temne word for “let’s keep trying.” They have received several loans from Kiva through SMT. They have repaid the previous loans successfully. Their previous loan was for Le 800,000 each. That loan helped them a lot. They were able to make a lot of profit from the loan and solve many of their problems. Today, they are requesting a new loan for Le 1,000,000 each to add to their businesses.

Abdul (right) is the leader of this group. Abdul was born in Makeni in northern Sierra Leone. He is forty-five years of age, a husband with four children: two in secondary school, one in primary school. The youngest is not of school age yet. Together, he and his wife sell second-hand bed sheets. He has been a businessman for over fifteen years.

With this loan of Le 1,000,000, Abdul will buy about five bales of second-hand bed sheets to add to his business. He travels to Freetown, a distance of 390 miles round trip, to buy the bed sheets. A bale of second-hand bed sheets costs between Le 220,000 and Le 250,000. The fare to and from Freetown is Le 30,000 and a single bale will cost him Le 3,000 to transport back to Makeni.

The only challenge Abdul is facing in his business is that of occasional slow sales. The people of Makeni struggle to generate the discretionary income necessary to purchase fresh bed sheets from Abdul. Also, a challenging rain or dry season can also impede sales. Apart from this, business is going well for him and he loves doing it. His goal now is to be able to buy a plot of land so that he can start building a house.




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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