Meet Koumia Agambia
Despite difficulties Koumia continues to aspire with help from Deki. Meet Koumia Agambia, 39, from Lomè.
Koumia Agambia, 39 lives in Lomè, Togo with her husband and three children, two of whom are now at school. She ran a small market stall to make ends meet. When her uncle fell sick, she had to pay for his medical expenses. This wasn’t something she had foreseen or been able to prepare for and has been one of the biggest challenges she encountered financially.
Koumia, guided by the credit officer at IADES (Institution D’Aide Au Developpement Economique Et Social), learned about the importance of savings during an outreach meeting. Inspired by this, she saved 9,000 XOF (approximately £12). With these small savings, she took out her first push-up loan from Deki. These loans, under £30 and interest-free, aim to introduce entrepreneurs to financial products. They help individuals, often new to such concepts, grasp the basics of loans, repayments, and essential business skills. Upon successful repayment, entrepreneurs gain access to larger loans through their community groups, significantly impacting their business and financial resilience.
She is part of a community savings group called Assiko – the group members aim to support each other within their community. Once their group reached their target from Deki sponsors, the microloans were distributed by our field partner IADES, to help the entrepreneurs’ business ventures grow and prosper.
Koumia trades in general goods such as cosmetics, hair, and cleaning products. With her community group she also enrolled in the full training package offered by IADES, which has enabled her to improve her business. Through using the micro-savings scheme she now saves 1000-2000 XOF a week and keeps the profits in the business. Koumia has taken full advantage of the Deki microloans, having now had five loans in total through her Community Savings Group. Throughout her full loan history, she has made an impressive profit of 250,000 XOF (£340) to date.
While her husband manages the household finances and the family, she focuses on the business, working a staggering 84 hours per week. Trading has improved, covering the family’s expenses using the profit. Previously Koumia had problems with selling to customers on credit, but her training has enabled her to manage this issue, on top of learning how to manage her loans and repayments, and her competition, which has prevented her cash flow from stagnating unnecessarily.
Despite the obstacles Koumia has faced, she continues to work hard for her family and aspires to buy land, build a house in the future and dreams of having a big shop of her own.