Looking for needles in a haystack - and finding a few

August 15, 2009

I spent Wednesday working on the profit-sharing study in Chavakali Market. Chavakali is the closest town to where I am living in Eregi, and on Wednesdays there is quite a large crowd present for market day. Even so, it is still a pretty small place – if you want access to the internet or a bank you will have to go about 20 minutes down the road to either Mbale or Kakamega.

VEF business mentor Margaret Embalabala has helped to start a number of businesses in Chavakali, so I went there with a long list of businesses hoping to find at least a few to interview. I was also interested in comparing businesses working in Chavakali to the businesses I had interviewed earlier, all of which were in the villages and operating on a relatively small scale.

What I didn’t realize was that looking for businesses in a town is much different than looking for them in a village. In the village, if you bring a list of group members to someone that person will usually know at least one or two of those people. Thus, we were able to find businesses in the longevity study with relative ease (because we were working exclusively in the villages). In Chavakali, however, it was a different ballgame. Amidst the hustle and bustle of market day, we were only able to find two businesses. What brightened up the day, however, was the fact that both of these businesses were doing very well.

One of the businesses, Upendo (love in Swahili) Auto Garage, was an excellent example of how a VEF grant given to a business that is already in operation can make a huge difference. Bernard, the head mechanic and owner of the shop, had already been running the shop before the grant, but it was on a very small-scale. When he learned of VEF’s proram, he grouped together with four other men who had auto repair skills, applied for the grant, underwent training, and ultimately received the $100 grant. Those other four group members are still working at the shop, and Bernard pays them based on the work that they do (they get 20% of the cost of the work they do, and the other 80% goes toward paying for the operational expenses for the shop). Bernard himself doesn’t take a portion of the profits. Instead, he reinvests them in the business. He gets money for his daily needs from money paid to him by two apprentices he has hired, and also from a towing service that he runs on the side. So overall, the $100 from VEF provided new employment opportunities for six people (including the two apprentices) and enabled Bernard to expand his business, too. It’s amazing how much a small amount of money can do around here.