Our First Village Phone Salon

By Rev. Wasike and Lia

The Kimilili Village Phone Salon women’s co-op received a private micro-loan from an anonymous donator to start up our first Village Phone Salon. The donor has indicated that if the first VPS is successful and if our business and marketing practices are transparent, he would be willing to make another loan or two. So, we are setting up a business structure and practices that make it transparent to everyone that we are capable of creating future successful business ventures.

This donator’s terms of loan are generous (only 5% interest on the loan compared to the micro-financing agency’s 16-18%), but also follow along the same guidelines as normal micro-financing agency for the women’s co-op.

The Kimilili VPS women’s co-op consist of a team in Kimilili and one in Nairobi.

In Kimilili, the women’s co-op consists of active members who run the business day-to-day and silent members, who act as guarantors on the loan, as well as give moral support, advice and supervise the flow of income and expenditures.

In Nairobi, the supervisory and marketing team consists are responsible for building up and training the women’s co-op in best business practices, planning the opening ceremony for the VPS business, working on marketing concepts, and supervising the bookkeeping responsibilities.

If you would like to read more about our women’s co-ops practices and all the terms and conditions of our loan and how we are going to pay it back, please go to the Kimilili blog post outlining this.