Innovation made possible

Many low income entrepreneurs are most times faced with a predicament of having to choose one of the two important decisions when it comes to business profits.

Kelly Mwansa, an entrepreneur of Mténdere Township in Lusaka explains that it is not easy for an entrepreneur with a low income generating business to make meaningful progress in life due low profits generated from small businesses. Speaking from experience, Kelly who operates a metal fabricating business at Mténdere market, says he was one time in a dilemma where he had to choose to either reinvest his profits back into the business to keep it going or to provide for his family’s needs which apparently, suddenly increased due to the presence of none-household family members.

“It was a tough decision to make and I choose to provide for my family”, Kelly said. Kelly had no idea of the magnitude or severity of the consequences of his decision and he nearly lost his business. Just that one time of not reinvesting profits back into his business, saw Kelly struggle for over a year to prevent his business from collapsing and later on, provide for his family’s needs. His business capital and profits decreased gradually to a point where he almost gave up on his business.

Luckily however, in 2007, Kelly came to learn about FINCA through a friend who was already working with FINCA to grow his business. Kelly joined 45,000 other clients working with FINCA to grow their businesses. “Not only has FINCA helped me to save and grow my business but it has also taught me to be innovative and the importance of saving money”, Kelly said.

Kelly has recently invented a different form of a wheel borrow which he calls “Borrow Trolley” and it uses much less effort to operate. “Without FINCA, this would not have possible because through its loan facility, I have been able to procure all the material I needed to make the borrow trolley”, he said.

Zambia’s Patents and Company Registration Agency (PACRA) awarded Kelly with a Certificate of Registration of design which gives 100% ownership of the borrow trolley and its design.