Kikondo, UG – Money earned, saved, and invested in community to create new jobs – 15 Jul 2017

Emmanual is saving and investing the money he earns with Wamukisa. He is creating new employment opportunities in the process.

Emmanual works for Wamukisa as the commercial gardening lead. He started working for Wamukisa after attending a training program about organic vegetable gardening in Tanzania in 2015. He loved the training because in addition to providing training for his job with Wamukisa, Emmanual also learned skills relevant to his life as a farmer. He says that after the training he was able to farm with greater confidence and courage – taking risks by planting less common, high value crops like cabbage and carrots.

Now that Emma has a consistent income through Wamukisa, he is thinking about how he can save and invest to grow that income. Emma began saving some of his salary on a regular basis and in June 2017 he withdrew 400,000 UGS (US $121) he had saved and invested it in a brick-making business. He employed two men full time to cut, mold, and stack 10,000 bricks. he plans to sell the bricks for 120 UGS each. After paying for labor, wood to burn the bricks, and other minor expenses, Emma hopes to earn a profit of 600,000 UGS for his two months of work overseeing the brick-making business.

Emmanual plans to invest proceeds from this business in his farm. He runs a small farm with his wife and two young children. His wife works at a market stall in a nearby trading center and sells the produce they grow. If Emmanual can use  the money to grow more crops, his wife will be able to sell more at the market stall. When the couple begins to earn sufficient income, they hope to begin sending their children to private school.