The Business Boys

After over a year of dreaming of ways to help the boys who spend their days collecting scrap – we have started. We started meeting 6 weeks ago with the main aim of asking them how we could help them. We were very aware that we didn’t want our assistance to become dependence so we provided questions hoping they would come up with some good answers.

We started by meeting over a meal and a low-key discussion about small business with many real life examples. It progressed onto actual ideas of starting businesses which has now resulted in us providing the first loans. We have a core group of around twenty, 15-20yr olds. They have all spent the last few years collecting scrap metal to sell for food and rent. All live in the local slum village of Masese and have no prospect of anything more than this.

We have now loaned six of the boys enough money to start small businesses and two of those have already paid off their loans. The loans range from $4 to $20. They meet daily with our project manager, Moses, who collects their loan repayments and helps them manage their money.

Three times a week they have practical maths lessons and once a week we meet for a time to discuss ideas, issues and to give out loans. We’ll keep you posted…