The First Mother’s Shop

After implementing the GGRF Athletic Scholarship Program for a few years, the GGRF families expressed the need to build pathways towards financial resilience that would help invest back in their children’s education and stability. Many of the families we work with are those with single mothers who did not receive a formal education and are involved in entrepreneurial work. We established the Mother’s Savings and Entrepreneurship Program with Siquee Women’s Development Association who has nearly two decades of experience providing this kind of programming for women.

In 2018, one of the mother’s savings groups in our Bekoji program decided to invest their money in launching a Mother’s Shop where they could sell their homemade products together all year long.  Many of the mothers sell local, homemade products, such as teff flour, spices, toasted barley, and coffee, at the market.

The local Bekoji market is only open two days a week. The Mother’s Shop allows the women to sell their products everyday instead of depending on the market schedule. The local women and children’s office helped to provide the permits for their shop space next to the market. 

This has been a great example of how the women’s savings groups are able to identify their needs and work together to find the best solutions as a group using the skills and resources provided by GGRF.