Tailor pivots her business to producing protective medical masks with help from FHA

 
Focus Business School - Bukavu

Ange found insight and inspiration from our entrepreneurial training.

Running your own business is tough, no matter where you live. Add COVID-19 to the mix and self-employment can become overwhelming.

But then there’s Ange Maloani. When the pandemic hit, Ange pivoted her tailoring business and began making personal protective masks. They’re affordable and in demand. That’s on top of her other apparel work, in which she sews dresses for women and shirts for men in African patterns.

Ange’s success is due in part to her hard work and innovative spirit, but she says Focus Business School has been integral to her marketplace success – and more.

“Since I have known Focus Business School, so much has changed in my behavior and my way of managing my finances,” she said.

“ It makes me want to work hard, to seek for good income, and to provide for my children what I had missed from my parents, as long as I have strength to work for their wellness.”

Focus Business School teaches entrepreneurship and financial management based on Biblical principles and values. We offer this instruction to local entrepreneurs in partnership with Focus Business School International. A related component of this program is microloans. Microlending helps people start sustainable businesses that provide income, employment and family stability. While we require repayment of a loan, no interest is assessed.

Ange did not miss the program’s emphasis on a God-centered approach to business and all of life.

“If we do business, we should not be afraid of our competitors, even if they are many,” she said. “We shouldn’t forget to put Jesus at the center of our business.”

She also lists these lessons from the training:

  • Learning to tithe.

  • Learning how to organize her work and tasks.

  • Learning how to develop good relationships with her suppliers.

  • Learning to welcome her customers and give them the desire to come back.

  • Learning how to be honest in business, and how to respect her workplace collaborators.

“I felt encouraged, because it gave me the hope to seek for wellness, knowing that GOD wants to bless me,” she said. “I started believing that even if I have a little income, I had to save for the future, for my family’s investment.”

Learn more about Future Hope Africa’s Focus Business School and how you can contribute here.

 
Roy Harryman