IBC Somalia Emergency Response Program focuses on re-generating the lives and businesses in the country. As a part of this program we have launched a Cash Grant Program for Women to develop small businesses and secure their self sustainability in the camps of Mogadishu.
As first activity 200 women have been given 250 USD to start up business and the number of the women benefiting from the projects will be exceeded to around 1000 .
Upon witnessing the implementation of the cash grant program, IBC country manager and donors representatives visited women benefited from the project.
The beneficiaries for this program came from four different camps in Mogadishu. From each of these camps fifty women were selected who were most needy and at the same time willing to regenerate their life.
Korsan IDPs were some the beneficiaries that benefited from this program. We met scores of them who had opened businesses within the camp and in the nearby neighborhoods.
Sirad Ali Dhore is among the beneficiaries in Korsan camp. She used the money to set up a business. She is a butcher in one of the neighborhoods near Korsan camp. Since she had children to look after, she used the money to form a partnership with another woman. Her husband died and left her with kids to look after. She wakes up early in the morning and prepares food for her kids. The other woman sells the butchery when she is away. They slaughter 2 goats daily. They get revenue in two ways, one by selling the meat and second by selling skin of the goat. They sell the skin at Shs. 50,000 each which is roughly equal to $2.3. From the meat she gets Shs. 150,000—Shs 120,000 per day which also roughly equals to $6.52--$5.22. This is enough for her kids and her in Mogadishu. She said “It is a great honor and dignity that I depend on myself and I am very grateful for the organizations that allowed me to reestablish my life”
Fadumo Ali Sheikh is another beneficiary at Korsan camp. She has opened a small kiosk in front of the camp after she benefited from the cash grant. She sells sweets, biscuits, groundnuts, cigarettes, lighters, and other commodities such as rice, sugar, wheat flour etc. she gets Shs. 50,000 to Shs. 75,000 daily as a profit. IBC team has seen her kiosk and even they bought some sweets from her as an encouragement.
IBC Team also met with Sahara Hassan Haidar, another beneficiary from Korsan Camp. She sells clothes on installment. She doesn’t have a permanent stall to sell her clothes so she carries them on her back and wonders around the camp and the nearby neighborhoods every day. This type of business is common in Somalia. It is called “Ha’iwareerin” it is a form of debt whereby you give the clothes to you customers and get small amount they can afford on weekly basis. She gets Shs. 80,000 to Shs. 100,000 daily as a profit.
IBC Team met with a widow whose husband has died a few weeks before the cash grant. She sells vegetables and other groceries within the camp. Ruqiyo Abdullahi Aden has also opened a table within the camp in front of her tent. She sells groceries and other commodities that certify the immediate needs of the campers. She also sells tea in the camp. While she is working, she is also looking after her children. She is a divorcee with four kids depending on her. When we met her two of her children were away on schools in the camp that IBC provides assistance.
Basro Mohamud Wehliye sells second hand clothes in the camp. She buys from traders in Bakara Market and resells it at a reasonable price in the camp. She sells them in the open air in front of her tent in Korsan Camp. Her children help her in the business.
