Stories of our Imarika Kijana Entrepreneurship Program: Meet Ngojea

Imarika Kijana (Thriving Rural Youth) Program

One of four interlinked programs across the key problem areas of health, education, sexual violence, gender equality and economic stability, livelihood training is delivered to rural students and girls, and targets the urgent need to support young people to develop new business ideas and improve livelihoods when they leave school.

This is specifically important in the rural areas where Lyra is active, as over 80% of the community members are subsistence farmers. To-date we have trained 175 young adolescents in 2019 and we will treble this number in 2020.

Introducing Ngojea Mgata, budding entrepreneur and basket maker

Ngojea is a 25 year old single mother to two boys aged 8 and 2. Her mother died when she was 7 years old, and her father moved away and remarried. She became a housemaid looking for work, but returned after the birth of her two sons to live with her grandmother.

In 2016, Ngojea decided to start life afresh, taking up small scale farming and hair braiding to earn a bit of income to support her children and her grandmother. When the Lyra entrepreneurship training arrived in her village, Ngojea was keen to take part.

Lyra invited Catherine of Vikapu Bomba (a successful local entrepreneur who makes and sells woven reed baskets) to speak to the girls about the opportunities in basket weaving. This was particularly relevant to Ngojea and her group, as they already had the right skills, and access to local materials needed for basket weaving.

Now, Ngojea is earning an additional income making and selling baskets, and she is also a Community Based Trainer, supporting others to improve academic performance in both primary and secondary schools locally. She is also a youth chairperson for her church.

Together with 29 other people, she has also joined a Lyra savings and loan group, and in the first six weeks of the program, Ngojea had saved USD 16 and doubled her weekly income with her basket weaving.

“In our community, basket weaving is for home use. Little did we know that this can be an important income generating activity. The opportunity to meet Catherine, the founder of Vikapu Bomba, was an eye opener to all of us. I have already starting weaving better, continually improving my skills. I aim to be the lead trainer in good quality baskets in our community”. Ngojea

Lyra is now supporting Ngojea and twelve other youth from the same community to weave baskets with a view to export. We’ll check in again with her soon, and see how her career is progressing.

Our Imarika Kijana Entrepreneurship Program: Checking in with Sayuni

Stories from our Imarika Kijana (Thriving Rural Youth) Program

One of four interlinked programs across the key problem areas of health, education, sexual violence, gender equality and economic stability, youth entreprenurship is delivered to rural students and girls, and targets the urgent need to support young people to develop new business ideas and improve livelihoods when they leave school.

This is specifically important in the rural areas where Lyra is active, as over 80% of the community members are subsistence farmers. To-date we have trained 175 young adolescents in 2019 and this will treble this number in 2020.

Checking back in with Sayuni

Now, 20 years old - Sayuni (pictured) was one of the first girls to stay in the hostel at Lundamatwe Secondary School, built by Lyra in 2013. She joined Lyra’s pilot school leavers program in 2018 and is now teaching other young people in her community how to start their own businesses.

Before joining the entrepreneurship training, Sayuni was running a small Genge (road side stall) which was earning her just 50,000/=Tsh a week (which equates to USD 17). Since joining the program, she’s used her newly-learned skills to double her income, and also put in place plans to diversify with a first ever fishpond in the village.

Funded by the Lyra Savings & Loans scheme, Sayuni has now taken out a loan to create a fish pond for the village, which will supply fresh fish and give her an additional source of income. She also dug a well in the village to create a local water supply, to save hours travelling to and from the nearest water supply, saving her time and effort.

As a result of Sayuni’s training and initiatives, she’s now seen as an educator in the village, and is able to share her skills and learnings to help the wider community.

“Before I didn’t see any importance in my life. Now I am self-motivated and valued as a knowledgeable person in my community. Now I see challenges around me as opportunities.” – Sayuni Msigala

We look forward to seeing Sayuni’s progress this year with her business initiatives and will check back in with her soon.

Collaboration in the Community: A new classroom for Idete

Having been built originally in 1950, the primary school building in Idete was in desperate need of refurbishment. In late 2019, that project was successfully completed in collaboration with the local community.

The long-awaited project received much support from the villagers and district authorities, with the village women running a rota to deliver water to the building site, and when rain made the local roads impassable, the villagers stepped in with 'all hands on deck' to deliver materials from the vehicle. A true display of one of Lyra's key values 'Recognising the energy and creativity of rural communities.'

Lyra's founder, Maria says of the project :

"Every family we have ever worked with, has been striving tirelessly to secure a better life for their children. We are always amazed by how generously the community contributes to construction of girls' dormitories, despite low family incomes. Women and men, old and young, entrepreneurs and subsistence farmers - all with the same drive to improve their lives."

At the opening in November 2019, the whole village took part in the celebrations - recognising the lasting investment for the Idete community. Since its opening in November 2019, 244 children and 6 teachers have benefitted from the new school building, and Government has promised to refurbish 2 other buildings in the school. The construction was generously supported by the Michael Matthews Foundation, a long-term partner with Lyra.

(Pictured: Maria, Lyra's founder with the District Executive Director and students and villagers officially open the classroom)