Antuser Lema is a 42-year-old woman who is happily married with three children. Professionally she is a primary school teacher, and has been teaching since 1996. Next to being a teacher, she also managed to open a retail shop at Kunduschi Mtongani in 1997. However, during this time, it was difficult to sustain the shop as there was barely enough money to keep it running. In those days, her husband helped her financially, as well as the small amount of money she received from her job as a teacher.
The following year, a friend visited her at her shop and introduced the idea of asking for a loan from a non-governmental organization that solely provides loans to women. This NGO was SELFINA. She acted on her friend’s advice and met Fausta Lema and Dr. Kisyombe. After discussing the situation, SELFINA extended a loan of Tshs 200,000 to help extend her business. After six months, Anthuser Lema was able to completely repay her loan, and SELFINA opted to extend her another loan.
By 2009, Antuser Lema wanted able to open a daycare centre, which she called the Trez Hota Daycare Centre. SELFINA provided another financial loan, this time of Tshs 6 million, and she was able to fulfil her dream of opening the centre. She is currently aspiring to invest in a schoolbus, as well as new toys for her pupils.
As a result of the aid of SELFINA, Antuser Lema was able to provide good educations for her children as well as create eleven new jobs in her school. She was also able to diversify, as she now also has a business of raising and selling poultry. To read more about Mama Lema’s struggles to achieve her dream of opening the day care centre, click here.
