Vision fund enables Philip live his dream

By Charlotte Muhwezi, Donor Liaison World Vision Uganda.

The dough on several tables as one enters Philip’s home is an indicator that he is a baker. For a long time Philip has been making doughnuts. He has a big family of 6 children and a wife. Things were not moving on well for him. He always baked and sold the doughnuts but a month could elapse without saving any profits. He had a bicycle that he could ride daily for about 7 hours, moving from village to village; whether sunshine or rain, he endured, just to make sure he sells everything to earn a living for his family. On some occasions, he sold just a few because the customers he had were always the same. When his bicycle was broken, Philip would not sell much because of the distance he had to cover to move to the customers.

Just like the psalmist says, weeping may remain for a night but joy cometh in the morning. On one bright morning, Philip woke up lucky. He had a friend introduce him to World Vision micro-finance (Vision Fund Uganda) for him to take a loan in order to change the status quo. “Several options were introduced to me and I had to make the best choice” says Philip with much joy.

He broke the cliché of getting a liquid cash loan and instead opted for a motorcycle loan. This happened  in August 2013 when he asked his father to give him a piece of land as security to get the motorcycle loan which he was to pay back in cash an equivalent of 2.4million($1000) that amounts to the motorcycle cost.  The agreement he has with VF is to pay back at least 200,000/= ($83) monthly before August 2014. When he completes the payment, the motorcycle logbook will be transferred in his names.

When Philip got the motorcycle, his life changed drastically. He was able to drive to the furthest villages of about 14kms as well as take his children to school. This made him make more profits thus more doughnuts and in a day he would earn about 300,000/= ($125) having sold each pack (containing 12 doughnuts) at less than a dollar. This impacted his life and that of those around him because he was able to employ two extra people, take his children from government to private school as the Private system offers better education since the teachers are paid better and are more accountable, be able to operate other businesses of renting plastic chairs to functions as well as joining a village saving group which earns him extra money. Philip hopes to buy a piece of land to expand his bakery and get another motorcycle so that he employs someone else to help him do deliveries to the shops.  Due to the many profits his making, he has been able to make pre-payments of the loan and hopes to have completed it by May 2014 which is much earlier than the time he should have completed the loan.

“If it wasn’t for this motorcycle, I would never have imagined getting as much money in just a day. I am now able to meet my financial obligations as the head of the family and even make some savings at the end of the day” Philip says. Joseph Ajotu a VisionFund staff says that Philip pays all his debts on time and they have never had to remind him of his payments. “If he decided to come back for a bigger loan after completing the one his serving, we would give it to him right away because he has won our trust”. Joseph says.

Philip bakes three times a week and the rest of the days his selling off to both near and far places. The only day he doesn’t work is on Sunday because this is when he gets to go to church and have quality time with his family. With a smiling face, he says, “Vision Fund has made me a man of admiration in my village and i hope to employ many youth in the future”.