Two is better than one
I was born in 1976 in Addis Ababa.
Soon after I was born, my father, who was a laboratory technician, was
forced to go to Asmara, Eretria. At the
time, the area was a war front, and we heard that he passed away in the
fighting. My mother married another man
and had a second child; however 8 years later, my father suddenly
appeared. Since my mother was married to
another man, they processed the divorced and my father married another
woman. Thus, I grew up moving between the
two separate homes. When I completed 12th
grade I took the national exam but
couldn’t score the passing mark that allowed me to join a University. When my father passed away in 1988, I lost all
hope. I moved to an Arab country and
stayed there for three years. I returned
home to take care of my half sisters when I heard that my step mother passed
away.
In the
year 2004, I got married and gave birth to my first child but depending solely
on my husband’s income for survival of the family was not easy. Hence forced by the hardship, I opened a
small shop. However, since I had no knowledge
on business management, I was forced to close it after just a short while. My
mother then advised me to join WISE after she heard that my business wasn’t
successful. I became a member of Women
in Self Employment (WISE) in the year 2005 and started to save money. The Organization invited me to take a 12 days
training from which I benefited a lot. It
helped me realize that I have been spending a lot of money in lack of the
knowledge for proper handling. Now, I
have made saving a habit. I have
realized that we don’t need to go abroad and work in a foreign land to change
our lives; we can also work in our own country and still change our lives! I have also learned about business techniques,
how to use time wisely and a lot more. Had
I taken this training before I opened my shop, I would not have been forced to
close it.
After
successfully finishing the Basic Business Skills training, I took a loan of $28
(500.00 birr) and bought an oven
for bakery and started to sell bread to
neighbors and other people in my neighborhood. Then I took an additional loan
of 1000 birr from my cooperative and started to sell different house
items. Currently, my saving has reached $278
(5000.00 birr). I am also a share holder
of $278 (5000.00 Birr) in Addis International Bank. My husband and I have built a house on a land
my father-in-law owns. I put money saved
from my husband’s income and my Equb (traditional way of
saving money with in a group) to build the house. So, we
managed to build the house which has a value of about $1389 (25, 000 birr). My husband
used to think that his income was enough to support us but I proved him wrong
by working hard. Life cannot be changed
if the whole family depends only on one person’s income. Two is better than one. Now, my husband has accepted the idea of me
working.
In
the year 2011, WISE organized a New and Viable Business Ideas Competition. I participated in the competition by
introducing candles in different forms and came in 4th place winning
$111 (2000 birr). I now receive orders
from customers for candles and I am able to sell them with profit. In addition to this, I have started a restaurant
with my friends. My future plan is to start
a poultry farm. I also want to be able to become a professional photographer
now I graduated from Master Films, which is a school of photography.
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