Zelea M. Gulam

When you see a SELFINA entrepreneur whose business title is ‘restaurant’ or ‘café’, you may have to adjust your mental image of what that is. A local restaurant or café in Tanzania usually consists of a rough wooden table and some long, wooden benches, with the sky as a ceiling. Such places don’t even appear in the Lonely Planet’s budget guide, but if you’re looking for a cheap and tasty meal, and someone to have a chat with, this is the place to be. The food is all-local: rice, ugali (a hot sticky dough, made from maize flour), plantain (a cooked savory banana), all served with beans, vegetables, meat, and a variety of yummy sauces.

She works at the business for 13-16 hours per day, 7 days per week and is assisted by her mother. She currently earns about 200USD a month from her business. She is requesting a loan of 400USD in order to purchase more rice in bulk. In the future, she plans to establish another business. Zelea thanks you for your support!

ABOUT SELFINA:
SELFINA has taken a lead role as a pioneer of micro-credit in Tanzania through Micro-Leasing. The organization is engaged in the economic empowerment of women in Tanzania through the provision of a leasing and leaseback microfinance facility. Customs and traditions in Tanzania make it difficult for women to own land and assets, thus they are termed non-creditworthy by financial institutions. This leads to poor financial support and poor access to basic needs and services for women with low incomes. One of the primary advantages of micro leasing is that is allows clients to use the equipment as collateral for future loans with SELFINA, thus enabling them to borrow larger sums in the future.