1. SOME SUCCESS STORIES FROM SENGBE FSA SOME SUCCESS STORIES FROM SENGBE FSA
“I have done the same with rice and even
honey” I then interrupt “But what equip- A Story written by: Dickens Aluha Mujumba-VSO RTA.
ments do you need for this?” She gives
me a very simple answer “Some plastic
rubber (can), a place to keep your oil and
some finance to spend, so that you don’t
end up selling the palm oil before it is
time” After she has said this, it hits me
that we have an opportunity there. We
can provide the fund then when they get
their money the easily pay their loans. I
look at the table across to where the man-
ager is seated and smile, he then smiles
A customer working on one of the groundnut mincing machines
back at me. I know he has gotten the
owned by Ms. Conteh
same idea; probably our minds are at par.
According to Ms. Conteh, so many challenges face agri-business dealers. The first one is the design of the
current loans which seems to favor the micro and small scale traders. She pinpointed out that the frequency
of payment and amounts per payments needs to be looked into. She was also specific about women agro-
business dealers who she felt needed more training about savings, this is because most of them mix busi-
ness money together with domestic money and as a result interfere with their business’ financial flow. She Sengbe FSA is probably one of the oldest finan- -Shirt and khaki trousers and from the appearance
also talked about the possibility of us thinking about top-up loans because she felt that in agri-business, un- cial service associations in the country. It has of things, he must be in crisp good health.
expected deals that have a time-lock attached show up and one has to have a trusting financial partner who some of the earliest FSA clients, and maybe, the He welcomes us in to the neat looking branded
is willing to help them take up the opportunity. To her the partner is the FSA. longest serving staff. Yet from the exterior looks, FSA which stands in front of the giant, rocky Ka-
you can never tell. Ironically the institution looks bala hills, and even shows us where to wait. He is
She also feels that it is time we thought of having a way of cushioning group clients in instances where new, fresh and well kept, the flower lawns well so much at home in the FSA that he even consid-
their fellow members died or fell into paralysis from paying heavy loans left. She cites a case of the late watered, probably an indication of the commit- ers us visitors. This makes me smile to myself. He
Ms. Umu Jalloh and Mr. Katti Marah whom they had to pay for the remaining part of the OLB. As I later ment by the staff. The institution serves surround- was there one hour before us because he knew that
discuss with the cashier, Mr. Marah, he brings up a very good idea; that we should deduct 1% of the loan ing hilly villages amongst them Koromasilaya, we would be coming and could not afford to come
and invest it separately as an insurance fund either as loan portfolio or with any other investment that yields Senekedugu, Bambukoro, Yataya, Hermakono, late for this important meeting. “ He must have
income. This way, we will be in a position to dip into the fund in case the worst happens and pay the re- Sulemania and the green scenic Momoriyama. something burning inside that he needs to share” I
maining part of the OLB, while at the same time saving ourselves the trouble of forcing the remaining fam- It is from Sengbe that we decided to pick out utter to myself.
ily members to pay. I move away from her business site where we had gone to verify the facts. My eyes are some success stories. By doing this, we sought to After sitting down and some brief introductions by
firmly fixed on her wares. Her stock is truly large. As I climb on to the bike and head for the hills facing tell everyone that besides profits there is another the cashier and manager, he starts:
the FSA, towards Kabala. It is now clear to me that Sengbe FSA has managed to change lives of ordinary element of accomplishment that drives us; an ele- “My name is Mr. Momodu Sesay shareholder
citizens in ways many of us thought impossible. ment that can neither be captured on the balance number 352, and I can tell you, this FSA has made
sheet nor quantified in units. One that we can only all the difference.” He gives us some short but
feel, see and enjoy its effects. This element is the
smart silence then continues, “After the war we
BANJUL TO HOST IFAD 7TH REGIONAL FORUM FOR WEST & CENTRAL AFRICA positive transformation we make on the lives of
ordinary men and women. Those folk that work had lost hope totally, no reputable financial insti-
The government, through the Ministry of Agriculture of the Gambia has consented to host the IFAD 7th hard day by day unnoticed so as to get their basic tution would ever accept us. Those that came were
Regional Forum for west and Central African countries. needs and not depend on alms. Those who would run by dishonest men who gave us false promises,
have had otherwise been considered too uneco- swept all our money and went away” As you look
This has been made known by the IFAD Director of Programme Management Department for West and nomical to work with by most financial institu- into his youthful eyes you can see him reflecting
central Africa Division, Ides de willebois. tions. into the distance, probably the distant past, then
Amongst the many personalities who have greatly
The Forum will be a joint effort of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Gambia, the West and Central Africa small sharp creases of sadness start caricaturing
benefited from these FSA we picked out three
Division of IFAD in collaboration with projects, partners and service providers. one by one on his face. I guess, he must be morti-
people. There are so many success stories here,
fied by what would have happened had the FSA
It is no secret that the forum has achieved increasing recognition in the region. It has been envisaged that but due to space, we only had to do these three.
not come. “We had no vision” he continues, this
the forum this year will certainly bring in new perspective and ideas from the region for improving project time his voice getting shaky “ and the only tomor-
implementation. Mr. Momodu Sesay
Judging from looks, you could be easily forgiven row we had in mind was a bleak one characterized
As we could recollect, it was in this forum last year in Libreville, Gabon where Sierra Leone was singled for thinking that Pa. Sesay, as he is commonly by a life of begging and waiting for freebies from
out in recognition of her outstanding performance in the IFAD project implementation in the region. known is half is true age. His fine-looking smile NGO’s”
The big question now is, what this year’s forum will be for Sierra Leone. betrays no sign of stress, associated with time. He (Condt. On next page)
is well and neatly dresses in a white well pressed T
PAGE 6 12th -15th November, 2012 has been slated for the event.
PAGE 3

2. SOME SUCCESS STORIES FROM SENGBE FSA
a medium height well built lady, who
According to the subsequent interview which took us up to his business premise and home for verifica- was seated to the far left side facing the
tion. Mr. Sesay lives in Yogomaiya village which is one of the more populated residential villages of cashier and whispered to me in the left
Kabala, the administrative headquarter of Koinadugu district, which is situated north of the country. He ear “There is Ms. Saio Koroma”
tells us that he joined the FSA after hearing from its benefits from one of the local promoters and one After brief introductions, we came to
Mr. Mohamed Marah who is currently the cashier. At that time trusting was so hard but they decided to learn that Ms. Koroma is a very busy
put their trust in the paramount chief PC Alie Marah who agreed at that time to pay in case the staff at woman. Besides being a mother with
the FSA happened to be conmen. school-going children whom she had to
“At that time it was also hard to trust because an organization by the name of grassroots had come into cook for before coming for the inter-
Kabala, mopped up peoples funds in the name of collecting savings and disappeared into the thin air view, she is also one of the well known
never to be heard of again” he continues. local soap manufacturers and distribu-
“In some cases,” the cashier interjects. “We were forced by the clients to read the Al-fatya” which tors in Kabala.
leaves me in confusion about what that is. “This,” he goes on to say, “is a verse in the holy book which Ms. Saio joined the FSA on 27th August
if read would result in something unpleasant happening to you in case you break the agreement’’ This 2007, this is because of the trust she had
is followed by some short silence, then he looks directly at me and mumbles in a lower tone, ‘’Some placed on one member of staff who ap-
clients were even praying for their money before giving us” . After this, the manager, Mr., Mansaray proached her and told her about the con-
A Story written by: Dickens Aluha Mujumba-VSO RTA.
cites the role played by the local promotional committee led by Mr. Ballah in convincing Mr. Sesay cept.
and many others to join the FSA. As we are in the field at Ms. Saio’s business trying to verify the facts, we come face to face with her business
Mr. Sesay first took his first loan in 2007.At that time his now youthful looking daughter Ms Mariama and what I see leaves me amazed. Surrounding some numerous brown chocolate looking bars are three young
Sesay was just past her early childhood, in lower primary. Now she is in form 1 in one of the most fa- ladies and one young man who is donning a folded cream trouser and wearing a big semi-circular smile on his
mous schools in Kabala. All along, the man has used loan obtained from the FSA to finance the young face. On the sides is a table bearing an assortment of beautifully displayed wares. On the far right stand two
girl’s education. She informed us that she has never missed a day in school due to school fees. She has equipments that to me resemble mincing machines, there is a young boy trying to operate them but using some
also never missed a meal, maybe when she is fasting. When we met the girl, she expressed her deep effort.
desire to be one of the famous women educationists of Sierra Leone in future and thanked the FSA “This are my employees’’, she begins. ‘’All of them have just finished high school and are employed part
staff for making this possible. Her father has now taken a total of 4 loans all of them business loans. He time” she pauses for some time to give attention to a lady customer who is buying a cooking ingredient by the
tells us that he would wish to see the portfolio broadened to bring in consumer loans and also other name of Maggie and continues “The bars that you see there are the raw materials that I use to make soap, and
forms of loans. the two machines, the one the left is for grinding cassava leaves while the one on the right is for grinding
According to the old pa, the FSA has helped him achieve self sufficiency in his own home as opposed
to waiting for his relatives who are in Europe, who would offer him tough conditions before giving him groundnuts. Both of them I bought using 6 months loan which I got from a loan extended by this FSA. When
small financial aid. This, he told us, was a much undignified way of making a living. He looks forward customers use any of the machines, they pay two blog’’ I am a bit confused by that terminology so I interrupt.
to that day when he will have enough income for him to also send to his relatives who are in Europe. “Two blog, what is that?” She then clarifies that it is two hundred Leones which is the official local currency.
He has now ventured into small scale farming and the income from his business has gone up. We found We later on learn that the revenues generated by the business were enough for her to comfortably repay their
two young men working on the small but neatly maintained swamp. monthly installments.
He looks forward to the agricultural loan to help him develop his small farm. He also hopes to see
longer loan terms. The lady shares with us a dream that she has for the future. She wants in five years to establish a light factory
that deals in presentably packaged perfumed soap which she will sell to even the elite class. To achieve this,
Ms. Saio Koroma she tells us, the FSA should increase the loan terms and loan sizes. They should also consider carrying out fi-
nancial training to the more progressive clients so that they are not caught in the loan trap due to poor manage-
We had sat on the visitors’ bench of the
FSA for about twenty minutes and now I ment of borrowed funds.For Ms. Saio, the FSA is Godsend. Her daughter, Ms. Fatmata Kamara and son in law
was almost giving up. ‘’This lady might Mr. Nicholas Kamara have also joined it. They also hope to reap the good fruits soon.
have forgotten about the appointment” I
remember saying to myself. My mind was Ms. Marie Conteh
now slowly drifting to other things. I was Ms. Conteh, who happens to be shareholder number 249, has seen the FSA grow from what used to be there to
carefully observing how the one member what is now. From October 17th 2007 when she first walked into the doors of the first small building which
staff was engaging two very casually used to house it so as to buy her first share. She has now taken a total of three loans. I am additionally told by
dressed young men who wanted to know the proud manager that she has never fallen into arrears.
how they could join the institution. From One thing that struck me about Ms. Conteh is the nature of business that she does. She is purely in agro-
seriousness that was involved, I realized business. She buys rice, honey, pepper and abass from her own village far in Bafodia which is about 25 miles
that these FSA does not take youth mat- away then sells it in wholesale quantities at Kabala market. She also buys palm oil in Fadugu Lumo market
ters lightly. Then the manager of the FSA which is conducted every Saturday which she sells in Kabala. ‘’Sometimes, you have to be smart” she at one
Mr. Sheku Mansaray appeared to me from
point told us “You can buy palm oil in July at Le. 75,000 then sell it at double the price 6 months later” this is
the right hand side and pointed to
followed by some silence, as I try to recall what marketers sometimes call time market, then she says
(Condt. On page 6).
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