Yawa

Loan description:

Yawa Dotse runs a stall located at the side of one of the main roads leading to Atakpamé in Central Togo. She sells pulses, including at least three varieties of black eyed beans, and basic grains including maize, as well as salt, tomatoes and various condiments including dried okra.

She has been doing this for more than 30 years. She started when she was just 12 and is now 45 years old. She is married with seven children, the eldest of whom is 27 and the youngest just eight. Each of her four daughters helps her out from time to time, particularly if she has to be away from the stall or is ill.

Nevertheless, she stills works six days a week from eight in the morning to six in the evening, resting only on Sundays. The stall has always given her a regular daily income. Her husband is now retired and tends to a smallholding growing vegetables. He does receive a small pension but it is not enough to meet all their needs and Yawa reckons that she is probably the main income earner in her household now. Her application to receive a loan of approximately $300 to buy extra stock has been approved by the microfinance institution WAGES. She previously applied for and received a loan of $200 which she repaid on a monthly basis and without problems. She wants to keep receiving loans because it allows her to pay in cash and buy in bulk from suppliers, which means she can negotiate a better price and better quality. As a consequence, her profit margin increases even if she sells the same amount at the same price as before. However, because she has better quality produce it usually means she sells slightly more. She considers that one of the reasons for her success is the lack of competition in the immediate vicinity, and she also attracts a lot of passing customers from the main road, there is also a large school situated nearby. Her ambition has always been to ensure that her children can stay in education as long as possible and not need to work to support the household, an opportunity that she did not have.

Mme AKAKPO Yawa est une veuve de 52 ans, mère de 04 enfants. Pour subvenir aux besoins de sa famille, elle fait le commerce de céréales principalement du maïs et du haricot.

Elle s’approvisionne au marché aux céréales d’Anié pour les revendre ensuite sur le marché local d’Akpessémé.

Avec le crédit demandé, elle envisage acheter 20 sacs de maïs et 40 sacs de haricot pour répondre aux besoins de sa clientèle.

Comptant sur l’accroissement de ses activités dû à ce crédit, Mme AKAKPO Yawa espère mieux répondre aux besoins de ses 04 enfants.