NRDC VSLA CASE STUDY

Conducted by: James Okony Dau - Director

1. Case Study stories

Meet Lucia James Akot aged 44 years; she is a member of Lwakat VSLA in Malakal. She joined the group in
June 2011 and accumulated a total of 1,000Sudanese pounds by the end of the cycle in February 2012.
Because the group decided not to share out their savings, they continued to save and lend out loans for the
subsequent cycle. By the time of this visit, she had saved 1,500Sudanese pounds. Lucia’s first loan was
worthy 1,000 Sudanese pounds, borrowed at an interest of 10% per month. She used the money to start up a
retail kiosk at her home in Shaura Jalaba in Malakal town. She got the second loan worthy 1.000 Sudanese
pounds in July 2012 and she used it to increase her business stock. She also used part of the loan to start up
a charcoal business to increase her income. She has earned profits worthy 1,000 Sudanese pounds from
June 2011 to date. This money has helped her contribute towards school fees for her children, and feeding at
home. Her major challenges include: low purchasing power i.e stocks take long to get cleared off the shelf,
high operational expenses resulting from traveling long distances (Khartoum) to buy items for restocking the
kiosk, ever increasing household needs. She is thank full to NRDC for this initiative, it has taught her how to
save money, she has ceased being a housewife waiting for the spouse support all the time. She recommends
that more technical support be provided so that she is able to increase her business and own a big shop in
Malakal.

Figure 1 Lucia making a phone call to her business contacts while her son assists at the kiosk

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Figure 4: Martha standing in front of her newly built house as a result of VSLA participation, on the right is
her first house.

The lady dressed in pink above is Martha Ayuel aged 30. She is also a member of Lwakat VSLA in Malakal.
She joined the group in August 2010 and has been able to save a cumulative total of 1,500 Sudanese
pounds since then. Her first loan was 1400 Sudanese pounds; she used it to start a local brewing business at
her home. She started by producing a five liter jerry-can of local brew per week. She took a second loan
worthy 1,000pounds which enabled her to increase her weekly production to 20 Jerry-cans. She estimates
her monthly profits at an average of 500 Pounds per month. Martha has been able to pay fees for her
children, build a bigger house with iron roof and supported her brother in marriage with 2,000 pounds. She is
grateful to NRDC for the VSLA opportunity. Her recommendation to NRDC is to provide more training
opportunities on key businesses like tailoring and others which can help them earn more.

Figure 5: Customers to Martha’s local brew business in her compound

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Raphael Aban is the secretary of Lwakat VSLA he is aged 24 years. He joined the group in 2010 and boasts
of a cumulative saving of 3,000pounds. He has borrowed a loan once i.e 600 pounds. He used funds from
the group to start up a small retail stall, which has been increasing with time. His monthly income ranges
between 200 to 500 pounds depending on the season. He has been able to learn the culture of saving since
he joined the VSLA; he is also supporting his wife and children with food, medical bills. His dream is to
operate his general merchandise business in a bigger and permanent structure.

Figure 2: Raphael attending to a customer at his stall