After receiving the Hand in Hand Zimbabwe Revolving Fund, Chisungo investments, a pot moulding group from Hillview village one (1) in Ward 22, Chirumanzu has burgeoned into a profitable and sustainable enterprise

Chisungo investments started as a family project in 2015, and the group which is made up of four members soon realised it could make more money after they joined Hand in Hand Zimbabwe programmes in 2018 where they were promptly trained on entrepreneurship,

health and motivation. The group quickly married these three components within the MEY project with their already existing idealistic plan of expansion. This was done by equipping the young stars to come up with innovative ideas in enhancing, marketing and making sure they keep business records in an arranged orderly manner.

The group was fortunate enough that all four of its members had their loans approved in March 2019 and each member got an amount of 300. From the 1200 the members acquired raw material they needed to bring their collapsing business back to its feet. Some of the raw material they got include bentonite, patterns (the pattern they use to shape their pots), safer and charcoal.

After acquiring these raw materials, the groups business has tremendously expanded.

The breakdown of sales since they acquired the loan until they finished repayment

The group’s market includes community members and people from neighbouring villages.

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One of the challenges the group faced in the past was lack of capital to inject into the business and to procure raw materials needed in the moulding process.

“We tried several times to secure loans from other microfinances but each time our attempts hit brickwalls. What was even more frustrating was the fact that demand for our products was very high and we couldn’t meet demand due to lack of capital,” Talent Matandauro one of the family member said.

“We used to produce 50 pots per month, which was not enough to meet demand from our local market. But since the time the four of us applied for $300 loans each to invest into the business, the group is now working on producing over 100 pots per month to supply the market,” Matandauro added.

Matandauro said the family group is grateful for the Revolving Fund

“I am grateful for the help that we got from Hand in Hand Zimbabwe through the Revolving Fund. Before receiving the Revolving fund, we couldn’t afford to buy basic commodities but now we are living a decent life,” he said.