Being given the opportunity to take responsibility for your own actions is not a privilege granted to everyone. Indeed, only those who are able to create new opportunities by themselves are ready for a better future. This is the reason why we support SMEs in southern and eastern countries by providing them with advice and training. In addition, we are actively involved in creating a better economic environment in these states.

Development is sustainable when it is based on the local people taking their own initiative. We therefore work on long-term projects with local partners, such as cocoa producers in Indonesia.

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Mavuno means harvest in Swahili, the most widely-spoken language in East Africa. In Kenya, under the name Mavuno, Swisscontact is working with people who want to help themselves. These people are organising themselves into groups, so that they can save together and give credits to each other out of the group's capital. They pay back the credit with interest, the rate of which they themselves have specified in the statutes. They invest this sum in their small business and use it to buy seeds, animal food or foodstuffs, which they process. They can expand their workshop or open up a small shop. Because if they invest the sum profitably it becomes rather easier to pay it back with interest.
Thanks to the interest it earns and the regular savings to which the members have committed themselves, the capital of the group is growing. As such, the group is able to give increasingly large loans. One year further on, the members of the group are sharing the mutual capital among themselves. Each and every one of them is going home with a profit. Their yield is certainly greater than the money saved since almost all of them have made investments and their income has increased. Reason enough, having shared out the capital, to start a new saving cycle.

The Gichungo Unity Self-Help Group does not just save mutually and give credit to its members. The members are using part of the group’s capital for a common project, namely a greenhouse, in which they cultivate tomatoes and sell them in the local market. Even the individual members have invested successfully:

Rose Wanjiku Kung’u (42), married, four children
«As a local small entrepreneur, I sell firewood. With the credit from the Mavuno group, I built a small warehouse. Previously, I earned 7,000 Kenyan shillings a month. Now I am earning up to 15,000 (ca. 200 CHF). Thanks to the credits from the Mavuno group each month I can buy up to three lorry loads of firewood, which cost me 10,000 Kenyan shillings. My plan for the future is to expand my business even more, build an even larger warehouse and so give my children the chance of a better education.»
 
John Njijia (48), married, five children
«I’m a small farmer and I produce dairy products. With the Mavuno group credit, I bought food for my cattle. Before I joined the group, I earned around 2,000 Kenyan shillings each month. Now I am earning up to 10,000. My life has life has changed a lot, because now I am able to cover the basic needs of my family. My goal is to buy more cows, so that I will be able to provide myself and my neighbours with good quality milk.»
 
Miriam Wanja (24), single mother with three children
«I sell second hand-clothing as a small entrepreneur. The credit from the Mavuno group has enabled me to, in get into the business. Before, I had no income and spent most of my time at home and looked after my children. Nowadays, I am earning 4,000 Kenyan shillings a month. In the future, I will buy more clothing and so expand my business.»