2015 Finalists

Charles Ejiku

Health Clinic Owner

Uganda

Charles Ejiku lived in a Northern Ugandan neighborhood where people were dying from cholera and malaria. As a nurse, he was determined to do something about it. Charles had served in the Uganda Defense Forces and had saved up just over $600. He used that money in 2010 to open a small clinic, or what Northern Ugandans call a “nursing home.”

Given the limited access to healthcare in Northern Uganda, the demand for Charles’ services was great. He started offering clinical consultations, laboratory services, dispensing of medication, and even ward admissions with a couple of beds. Word got out to more and more of the materially poor in the community that Charles was offering an excellent service at an affordable price. Charles wanted to grow to respond to the demand, but he had used up his savings and had limited capital to do so.

That’s when Charles heard about Christian Action for Empowering Church and Community (CAFECC), A Ugandan Christian microfinance institution. He took a first loan of around $200 and paid that back faithfully. He qualified for a second loan of $500 and, after paying that back, qualified for a third loan of $1,000. Now he could get a better microscope, offer more beds, and even open a second small branch of his clinic.

Charles was so committed to extending good affordable healthcare to those who weren’t getting it. He would go to the homes of those he had treated weeks before to make sure they were doing well and to pray for them. As the local primary and secondary schools heard about Charles’ services, they started sending their students to him. With limited beds, Charles couldn’t handle the demand. That’s when Charles decided to try to treat some of the sick in their homes rather than at the clinic. He purchased a motorbike and his nurses offered mobile clinical services through making house calls.

Charles’ clinic now employs 10 people, including 5 nurses, a lab technician, and a clinician. He can now pay school fees for his 6 children. He is an elder in his church and a leader in his community. He is humbled that God has chosen him to extend more of the kingdom of heaven to his neighborhood – a place that is no longer known for cholera and malaria. His dream now is to extend the kingdom to many more neighborhoods that need access to healthcare and the practical expression of God’s love.

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Luxala Suman

Convenience Store Owner

Sri Lanka

The future appeared so promising for Suman and Luxala when they married in 2005. They were blessed with three children. Suman owned a boat and generated sufficient income fishing to provide for his family. But when Sri Lanka’s long civil war struck their village, it hit hard. The village was destroyed, and with it their home, boat, and all means of earning an income. Suman, Luxala, and their children had to flee as refugees.

Some years later, the war came to an end. Suman and Luxala were in a new resettlement village. A local Sri Lankan Christian microfinance institution, HEED, provided a $225 micro-loan to enable Suman to get some fishing equipment. Not a year passed before Suman contracted a terrible fever and died. Luxala now had to find a way to provide for her children.

Luxala worked extremely hard to provide for her family – she didn’t want any handouts. All she knew was fishing – a profession dominated by men.  She cleaned the nets and did other odd jobs, but it wasn’t enough to provide for her family. She started pounding her neighbors’ rice into flour, but still needed more.

HEED was so impressed with Luxala that they provided a $375 micro-loan to turn a room in her house into a small convenience store. This gave her enough income to get by, but Luxala’s dream was to enable her children to have a much better life than she had. She wanted her 9-year old daughter to go to a better school, but she needed more income. She started making tea and food for men who came to the village to fish, dried and sold fish in her market, started a garden and sold the produce, started raising chickens, and bought a refrigerator, one of the few in the village, and rented out space. Bit by bit, Luxala did the unbelievable – generate a monthly income of over $200 for her family.

Now Luxala plans to employ others. She needs a person to run the dry fish business, and another to maintain inventory in her convenience store. She wants to grow her convenience store and build a separate building for it. And she wants to help others, just like she did when floods hit her village, and it was Luxala who was out distributing free food from her store. Everyone would have understood if Luxala asked her a handout. They stand amazed that she has become the village’s role model, providing for her family, and blessing others.

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Joel and Angel Venus

Tuna Processors

Philippines

Joel and Angel Venus began trading tuna in 2002 with a little over $100 borrowed from a cousin. Today their tuna processing business employs 20 individuals, serves about 30 wholesale buyers, and earns a monthly profit of over $1,500.

Their path to success was paved with as many downs as ups. For their first five years, loan sharks charging 20% per month interest were their only source for capital. Then one of Angel’s friends told her about The Center for Community Transformation (CCT) and they received a $200 loan. Now, 20 CCT loans later, they have a $10,000+ loan from CCT.

Joel and Angel buy tuna residue (the head, jaws, skin, fins, belly, and tail of the fish) to sell to wholesale buyers. They also process tuna into easy-to-cook products. They have been extremely innovative, processing tuna flesh into products that traditionally use pork as the main ingredient, like dumplings, sausage, meat loaf, patties, and spring rolls. They process reject fish and bones into animal feed. Joel does the tuna purchasing while Angel takes care of sales and supervises the work at their processing plant.

Joel and Angel have used their loans to rent storage space when they were growing, buy equipment to enable them to process the tuna into different products, and much more. One of their larger loans was for constructing a processing area next to their house. Their business now has nine freezers, three air conditioning units, and the smaller equipment they need.

Joel and Angel are close followers of Jesus and have blessed others given the many ways God has blessed them. They give generously to their church, lead church fundraising drives, and even provided capital and equipment for their pastor to open an ice cream shop. They have provided their children with a better education, and are putting one niece through college and another through high school. They purchased a submersible pump with a CCT loan that allows them to provide very affordable water to 30 families in their neighborhood.  Their 20 employees are the breadwinners in their families. That’s not all – Joel and Angel encourage their workers to pray before each day and attend weekly Bible study. They also host a Bible study in their home.

What’s next for Joel and Angel? They want to open a 24-hour store and eatery to create jobs for others and continue to be used by God to take the entrepreneurial skills He has given them and bless others.

2014 Finalists

Perry Adrabo

Chapati and Mandazi Baker

Uganda

At first glance, Perry Adrabo may look like a relatively poor African woman walking alongside the road selling chapatis and mandazis (Ugandan snacks).  In reality, Perry is a remarkable woman who has overcome much in life and has established a successful business that has given her and many others a very bright future.

Two years ago, Perry’s husband died and she was left a widow with three young children.  Not a year later, thieves stole one of her goats.  In running after them, Perry fell and hurt her back and was in the hospital for two weeks.  While in the hospital, thieves robbed her house again, stealing over $100 in stock.

Just before these tragic events, Perry reached out to CAFECC, PEER Servants’ microfinance partner in Northern Uganda, to help her grow her business and provide for her family.  Since then she has received 7 loans totaling almost $1,500.  She has been on time with her payment every week with the exception of two – the week her husband died, and the week she had to enter the hospital.

Perry now serves around 200 regular clients door to door!  A high-quality product (Perry adds some extra ingredients to make her products look and taste great) sold at an affordable price (Perry offers different sizes of products to make them affordable to children and the very poor) have contributed to her success.  She is expanding her client base from just individuals to institutions, taking catering orders for special events.  She has increased her profits from what used to be as low as $2/day to over $200/month and employed two younger women to keep up with her growth.  In the future, Perry would like to build a bakery and create the jobs that are so much needed in her community.

Now her children are going to school and getting good nutrition.  She has been elected as a leader in the local Mother’s Union and Christian Women Fellowship.  She has been able to transition from one who went to the church to receive to one who goes to the church to give.  She is considered a role model for the many young widows in Arua and teaches many of them how to make and sell the products so that they can support their own families.

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Sohagi Mallick

Waste Recycler

India

Sohagi Mallick values what others throw away – garbage!  She is a very impressive and generous Muslim woman and has blessed many through her business.

Sohagi and her husband started their waste-recycling business in 2000.   With just a bicycle, the pair went door to door collecting household items, plastics, metals and more to recycle and resell.  Sohagi sorted and cleaned the materials, a necessary step to value them.

Two years after starting the business, Sohagi heard about Christian Service Society (CSS), PEER Servants’ Indian microfinance partner.  She started with a loan of less than $50 and, bit by bit, one CSS loan after the other, grew her recycling business.  17 CSS loans later, Sohagi has more than 20 employees.  She cares very much for them and even has constructed rooms adjacent to her home for them to live in.  Her one asset used to be a bicycle; now her business assets run well into four figures.

Sohagi was never able to get a formal education, but she has made certain her children are getting one.  Most of Sohagi’s employees also don’t have a formal education, but now they are able to send their own children to school.

Sohagi isn’t ready to call it quits anytime soon.  Given more capital, she would like to grow her business even further and hire more employees.  The business success has enabled her to donate clothing and food to local poor children during the Muslim festivals.  She is known and respected as a very generous person by her employees, community members, CSS staff, and now perhaps more than a few Lydia Awards voters!

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Analyn Estrella

Pizzeria and Meryenda Owner

Philippines

Analyn runs a pizzeria and meryenda, or snack, shop.  While it is a very successful business today, it is no indication of the humble beginnings Analyn had or the hardships she has overcome.

Analyn was born in one of the Philippines poorest provinces.  Her father was a farmer, and he wanted Analyn to go to school only long enough to read and write. Analyn had other plans.

Analyn built a pizza business in the late 1990s that at one point employed 15 and sold a 1,000 boxes of pizza a day.  Then her mother suffered a stroke in 2004 and was comatose for a month – Analyn vowed to take as good a care of her mother as she possibly could, but in so doing, she lost almost everything, including the business.  Eventually her mother came out of the coma, but remained bedridden for the rest of her life.

That is when Analyn heard about CCT, and she reached out to them for an initial loan of less than $100 to start rebuilding her business.  She has since taken out over 25 loans totaling many thousands of dollars.  Her business grew very impressively and she has used a top-quality product and staying open 24 hours a day to fuel that growth.  She has the meryenda shop selling baked goods throughout the whole year, and then adds pizza making in the school months of June to March.  She makes a special 10 inch pizza to make it affordable to students – her customers are actually schools and canteens who then sell the pizza by the slice.  She sells almost 500 pizzas each day and generates thousands of dollars in monthly profits.

While her business was growing, Analyn’s hunger for spiritual things was as well.  She looked forward to the weekly CCT Bible studies and then one day heard Matthew 11:28 - a verse that changed her life:  “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”  Analyn wanted that, and she decided to become a true follower of Jesus.

Analyn, the little girl who was told she would only get enough education to read and write, has in one generation established a family where her children already have or are pursuing university degrees.  The children used to have to sleep under the table on which she made the dough; now they can live in a safe and more comfortable home.  Analyn is considering turning her business success into a chain and opening up a branch back in Masbate, the province in which she grew up, to create much-needed jobs there.

2013 Finalists

Elisa Gomez

Sandals/Accessories/Soap Manufacturer

Philippines

Pursue good education on how to complete a task and then use innovation to improve upon it – that has been Elisa Gomez’s life strategy.  Now 62, she has had sufficient time to refine and benefit from the strategy!

Elisa started her working career as a seamstress and used that as a springboard to learn how to make sandals.  She adapted and improved the techniques, producing superior quality sandals, and that soon became the key product of her thriving business.  Later she pursued education in how to make soap, and once again improved the product to the point that its quality differentiated it from other soaps and made for some very happy customers.

Over the years Elisa has adapted and improved her business in many other ways as well.  Using loans from CCT, PEER Servants’ partner in the Philippines, Elisa purchases secondhand dresses, towels, blankets, and other cloth items for her sandal-making materials, thus reducing her costs by up to 60% and increasing the variety of her products.  Elisa also uses buttons and other spare parts from the secondhand clothes to make and sell items like earrings.

Elisa not only pursues education for herself – she offers training to others.  Over the years, she has trained so many employees that they have been inspired to start their own businesses.  CCT estimates that at least 15 families make their living from training they received from Elisa.

After a bout with cancer as a young adult, Elisa determined to serve God by helping those less fortunate than herself.  While God has given her two biological children, she also has a heart for children who are neglected by their families.  She has taken in many children like this and given them support and direction for their lives.  Many are grown now and have gone on to successful careers like teaching and engineering; Elisa is training one of them to one day take over her business.

The success of Elisa’s business has allowed her husband to work full time in church ministry with little or no pay.  It has also allowed the family to take a month every year to do mission work among one of the most oppressed indigenous tribes in the Philippines, sharing materially and spiritually with those who are in need.  It has allowed Elisa and her family to not only experience more of the kingdom of heaven on earth, but to extend that kingdom of heaven to many others.

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Najima Molla

Concrete Rings Manufacturer

India

You may not know what it is like to go to bed hungry, or to put your children to bed without dinner, or to watch your children stay home from school when the other children are skipping to theirs.  But Najima Molla knows.  Her husband was a day laborer, and too often could not find work or earn enough to feed their family.  Desperate to provide for her family, Najima started going door-to-door, trying to sell glass bangles (a bracelet or anklet), but that was not very successful.

Najima heard about a workshop a long way from her home where she would be able to learn how to make concrete rings that are used in making wells and septic systems, so she and her husband decided to go.  They learned how to make the rings, and returned home to start that business.

But Najima had no capital to start a business.  That is when she contacted the Christian Service Society (CSS), PEER Servants’ partner in the outskirts of Kolkata, India, to access a small amount of business capital – initially under $50.  Najima got her first loan in 2004, and the business has grown steadily since then.  

Now Najima’s business employs eight people - four family members and four other workers.  One of her employees used to be homeless – now he is not only working for Najima, but she and her husband have provided a place for him to live.  Her business is right by the side of the road and is the only one of its type in the community, so Najima has many clients.  She is providing a product and service that only the government used to provide, and she is helping her community improve their overall health by making wells and septic systems available to more people.

As a result of the success of her business, life is much better for Najima and her family.  Not only are they able to have adequate nutrition, they have been able to build a house.  Najima and her husband were also able to provide the dowry for their daughter to get married (the bride’s family pays dowry to the groom’s family in much of South Asia).  All of this has made Najima very thankful that CSS has helped her, and given her great joy that she, in turn, can help others.

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Richard Candia Tunya

Cassava Processor

Uganda

Three years ago Richard Candia Tunya had a small grocery business with one employee.  He was struggling.  With business training from CAFECC, PEER Servants partner in Northern Uganda, Richard identified cassava, a very important part of the diet in the area, as the main product that he sold in the store.

With CAFECC loans ranging from just over $100 to just over $300, Richard started and grew a cassava processing business.  Over time he developed innovations that have helped his business succeed.  It started with his relationship with the cassava farmers:  Richard helped them choose a sweeter, more popular variety of cassava, he helped them get the tools needed to succeed in farming, and he bought their crop early, before it ripened, ensuring a sale for the farmers but also allowing him to get the crop at a cheaper price.  Then his employees process the cassava by cutting it up into chips that dry overnight before being sent off to be ground into flour.

Now Richard’s business is thriving.  In addition to helping the local farmers, Richard employs 11 people, including young adults who were school drop-outs, students looking to earn money for school fees, and housewives and mothers looking to supplement their meager family income.  Richard and his employees can now feed their families and pay school fees for their children.  And the whole community has benefited from having a local source of cassava flour.  Richard hopes to continue to grow his business by purchasing his own farm land and by adding a clipping machine to reduce the amount of work required to cut the cassava.

Perhaps the biggest impact of Richard’s business has been the way it has helped to extend God’s kingdom in his life and in the life of his community.  His spiritual and business growth have allowed him to contribute regularly and much more generously to his church, to buy a sound system for the youth program, and to devote time discipling the young people.  Now Richard is a leader and role model in his community, becoming godfather to many children, and encouraging other CAFECC clients by preaching during their monthly fellowship.  “I learned from CAFECC that I need to bless others when God blesses me,” notes Richard.  God has found a faithful and gifted son in Richard, and the people of Northern Uganda are being blessed.