January 6, 2011
By Grace Nakajje

JINJA, Uganda – Every African woman going into business is not going to be successful.

Esther Nalongo, for example, had customers in hand and an economic plan when she borrowed $50 from United Methodist Women to start a small business selling charcoal. What she did not count on was rising wholesale prices.

"Within six months, my business was no more with either profits or capital," Nalongo told more than 100 women who gathered recently for a seminar at Wanyange United Methodist Women Training Center.

Yet in holding up Nalongo's experience, what The United Methodist Church in East Africa can promise is a continued commitment to helping women – and with them orphans and vulnerable children – support themselves and their churches by providing opportunities for economic empowerment.

Keeping hope – and possibilities – alive for women entrepreneurs is more critical than ever at a time of global economic troubles, church officials say.

Tough economy

"Look at the worldwide credit crunch. The situation is bad. Donors are no longer sending assistance as it used to be," said Elmira Sellu of Sierra Leone, a regional coordinator of the Women's Division Missionary Initiative. "So should we fold our hands and relax?"

It is a rhetorical question. Sellu maintains the only option to uplift women's standard of living in the region is entrepreneurship.

East Africa Area Bishop Daniel Wandabula agrees. He has made empowering women with small businesses a priority.

Women are the backbone of the church, despite a 38 percent illiteracy rate for women in the region. The missionary work of the church, including making schools for orphans self-supporting, depends on the economic progress of women, Wandabula said.

The seminar in Jinja is part of a larger effort that has involved the establishment of several women's groups in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan and Uganda. The women's groups are involved in businesses from beekeeping and pig raising to selling and manufacturing African crafts.

"I believe this training will enable the women to wake up and be able to take care of the children. Much as you depend on God, consider becoming self-sustaining," Wandabula said.

Keeping hope alive

At the Uganda training, women were taught skills for starting and maintaining businesses, including identifying and analyzing markets, handling competition and caring for customers.

Nalongo's experience was instructive in making the women aware of unforeseen risks.

"I injected in all the capital of $50," she said. "At the start, the prices for charcoal seemed stable, and I was successfully moving at the same pace with my competitors. I had a collection of clients. Unfortunately, after three months, the prices at wholesale market elevated. My savings were not enough to meet my target, and yet I had set certain standards to retain my clients. The business kept dwindling."

But it was a worthy effort, Sellu said, one that further inspired her office to help other women not lose hope and to enable others to start their own businesses.

Although the road to entrepreneurship is not smooth, she encourages women to borrow U.S. President Barack Obama's slogan of, "Yes, we can."

The United Methodist Church will stand with them, she said.

"We are looking at building a vibrant category of women who can stand to change the economy right from homes, the church and the world over."

United Methodist News Service
Grace Nakajje is a United Methodist communicator with the East Africa Annual (regional) Conference.