“I feel very happy Siiqqee came into my life. I am transformed.”

Marta Gemeda, 42, was involved in small market trading but failed to turn a profit due to a lack of business training.  When Siqqee Women’s Development Association brought her together with other women to save, she quickly felt the benefits. She’s now looking forward to embarking on a new project with Siiqqee through her involvement in sustainable cooperatives, led by women, for women. 

“Before I was introduced to Siiqqee, I prepared local liquor and made a living through that. The money to start that business came from a loan from one of my neighbours. I didn’t know how to identify my profit margin. I could not separate the costs from the income. It was too late by the time I realised I was making a loss. I got into trouble as I used that business to send my children to school. I could not get another loan so my business was no more.

Even if I wanted to borrow from someone I knew I couldn’t pay them back. I went to the market with 10-20 birr (20-40p) and bought a small amount of chili, potatoes and onions and sold them on the street. During that time, I heard there was an organisation which was helping women like me.

When I started Siiqqee had bought 20 women together. Every woman was told to save 2 birr a week from our small businesses. Out of 20 women we have a chairperson, a box keeper for the savings and another keyholder for the box. After a few weeks, we started to get a loan of 20 birr from our capital and repay it in three months at an interest of 5 birr. Little by little we continued to grow and the amount we were able to lend was between 200-400. Then we became independent. We’d learned about saving money and could manage it on our own.

Women face a lot of challenges in this community. We cannot get somewhere to trade, we cannot get money to start a business to earn an income. It’s hard to secure somewhere to trade without being organised into a group. We have been working for over 12 years without being able to secure a place to trade. In less than one year with the savings group, we managed to secure a shop.

The biggest change is that I can borrow money from my own savings, not from someone else’s. Previously when I borrowed I paid back at a high interest and that went to them. When I borrow from my own group I pay back with 5% interest which goes to our members. That is double growth.

After we finished with Siiqqee we didn’t give up what we’d learnt because it was so beneficial. I want to thank Siiqqee for teaching me about saving and changing my life. It’s because of Siiqqee I was able to construct a house and educate my children. One child has graduated from school and is employed and the other is at university.

The next phase is that Siiqqee has organised us into a cooperative. We’ve been working and saving by doing individual businesses but Siiqqee came and explained the benefits of working in cooperative. We are going to bring our resources together. Siiqqee has invested a lot in us since the beginning. What is most encouraging is the belief we can grow together.

My fear is that the expenses we incur will be a lot, we might face challenges but women in our group are very strong. They have perseverance. They are ready to contribute as much of their energy, time and knowledge as possible.

Siiqqee is very important because they are the teacher and the teacher should exist not only for us but for generations to come. There are generations waiting who will need their help.

We passed through a lot of challenges. We have seen a lot. The future will not be as bad as the past. I feel very happy Siiqqee came into my life. I am transformed.”