Resilience Helped this SBS Alumna Succeed
Saida Awori is resilient, adaptable, and works hard, especially when challenges arise. Saida joined Street Business School (SBS) in 2017 after hearing a bullhorn announcement in Mutungo, where she lived.
Saida was a stay-at-home mother to three children and her husband was unemployed. Together, they lived in a single room, rent-free, in exchange for caring for the property. Saida and her husband had little money to pay for food. And, their two school-age children stayed home with them because they could not afford school fees.
Soon after she began her SBS training, Saida received $13.50 from a friend to help with living expenses. Knowing it was time to turn things around. and learning to use capital to start a business, Saida launched a jewelry business. She bought a basin, some jewelry pieces to sell, and walked through neighborhoods selling. On her first day of business, she earned about $4.50.
Doing well, Saida invested in two more basins and enlisted her husband and daughter to sell jewelry. Life improved for Saida and she was able to move her family out of their single room, renting a new place of their own. She also earned enough money to feed her children and enrolled them in school. When COVID-19 hit, Saida had to close her business due to the lockdowns. All of her capital was used for food and rent, but when she received her micro-grant from SBS, she launched three new businesses.
Saida used $13.50 to lease land and plant vegetables. These new sales earned her $19 per week, and she used the profits to launch mushroom and cosmetic businesses. Her weekly income is $44, she has joined two weekly savings groups and her goal is to buy a plot of land and build a house for her family. Saida’s resilience continues.
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