Most of the members  have large families – their own children and extended family to take care of. They live in simple mud huts and have little access to clean water.
One if the group members Ena is a 31 year old widow with three children. She grows peanuts and nutmeg to support her family. Ena has applied for a loan to help grow more crops by investing in seeds and fertiliser. She will also pay for some manual labour to help her make the most out of her small plot. This is Ena’s first Deki loan, and now that she completed her training, she’s ready to utilise what she has learnt. She is focussed on developing her business, aspiring to eventually become a wholesaler.

In addition to the loans, Deki’s field partner introduced solar lamps to the Assahoun area, local farmers from the Dzegbakondji village were very excited to benefit from it. It not only gave them the basic necessity of light during the evening, but allowed their children to do homework after dark, improving their educational outcome too.

Following 12 weeks of pre-loan training, including managing credit, numeracy and starting a business, the members are now looking forward to benefiting from the Deki microloans that will help them to make a bigger profit. They produce yams, maize, nutmeg, tomatoes, peanut and pineapple on their fields. The loans will also help them to breed livestock such as goats, increase their plot sizes and pay for inputs seeds and fertilisers – all to improve their yield and diversify their businesses. .

Kossiwa Senyo, member of the Lonlonyo Dzegbakondji group, makes her living from growing peanuts and tomatoes.