Madalena is a 44-year-old married woman with seven children living with her family in Magwi County in South Sudan. Her husband is a seasonal farmer making a meagre income. To provide for her family’s basic needs and pay her children’s school fees, she is teaching basic English at a primary school just to survive because she is not a teacher by training.
Madalena also raises goats as a small side business and plans to expand her farm because business is booming along the South Sudan-Uganda border. She wants to be a main supplier in her niche, and her only challenge is investment capital.
Madalena aspires to build and run a primary school as a business in her own village, so all children from her village can access education. “It is my dream to see a school built in our village,” she says.
Madalena will invest her loan in 50 female goats, which will help expand her business enough for her to earn a reasonable profit and repay her loan on time.
