Demaketch Sirgota has created a secure livelihood for herself, and employment for two of her daughters, since she set up an Ethiopian Dress Shop in Butajera town.
The venture has been made possible thanks to credit that she has received from a local Self Help savings and credit co-operative (SACCO), which provided her with initial seed capital to start the venture, and has since given her three loans that she has used to grow her business.
She buys a range of cloth, textiles and traditional dresses from the markets in Addis Ababa, and has set up a successful retail business, with the help of two of her daughters.
A mother of ten, Demaketch Sirgota has ambitious plans for the future too. She is currently setting aside 100 birr (€8) from her profits every month, and is planning to use her savings to purchase her own shop.
‘At the moment I am renting this premises, but I want to buy my own, and may then expand my business even further’, she says.
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Self Help Africa in Ethiopia |
Self Help Africa began working in Ethiopia in the mid-1980s, and the organisation's model for integrated rural development programmes was first developed in the country.
The organisation is currently engaged in implementing a series of area based programmes, and measures to build capacity at regional level, so that communities can improve their lives and the living standards and conditions of their people. |
