Live becomes better for Beatrice Nyambura and her family after they get a water tank through a friendly loan
Juhudi Kilimo, a leading credit only microfinance institution in Kenya is one of the partners of WCAD. The lender focuses on providing market driven and wealth creating financial products and services that empower rural smallholder farmers to create sustainable agribusinesses and improve livelihoods.
Beatrice Nyambura, a smallholder farmer in Kimuchu, Thika sub- county and a customer of Juhudi Kilimo has benefited a lot from WCAD. She is the chairlady of Vision Kimuchu self-help group. Besides rearing pigs and growing food crops like maize, beans and vegetables on a small scale, Nyambura also operates a food kiosk located in her homestead. She joined Juhudi Kilimo in 2018.
Her first loan from Juhudi Kilimo was Kshs. 30,000. She used it to set up the food kiosk business and pay school fees for her children. After settling this loan, she was able to access a higher one amounting to Kshs. 50,000 and later graduated to Kshs. 70,000. “Currently, I am qualified to get a Kshs.100,000 loan from Juhudi Kilimo,” she happily says.
Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) products
In 2021, Nyambura, together with the eleven members of Vision Kimuchu were introduced to the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) products offered by Juhudi Kilimo by a loan officer fondly known as teacher Grace. “She informed us that Juhudi Kilimo was offering water tanks to its customers which they could in turn pay in monthly instalments,” says Nyambura. “After working on the documentation, I got a water tank with a capacity of five thousand litres,” she adds.
Nyambura, her husband (John Muiruri) and four children have benefited a lot from the water tank. “ We used to fetch water using jerry cans from a seasonal river which is two kilometres from our home and this was a very laborious exercise,” she reflects.To make matters worse, the water from this river was polluted by human waste and litter, hence it was unhealthy to drink and cook with. In the same vein, using it for laundry was a herculean task. “Nowadays, we are able to harvest rain water and the tank is connected to the main pipe supplying water from the Thika Water and Sewerage Company,” she happily adds. Consequently, the family is able to have a sufficient supply of clean water throughout the year. She uses the water for cooking (both in her house and kiosk), laundry and irrigating a small section of her farm.
Nyambura paid for the tank in twelve monthly instalments of Kshs. 3,400 each. She settled the loan within one year. Thereafter, she was financed by Juhudi Kilimo to acquire a water filter. “The filter purifies the water from the tank, making it safe to drink and cook,” she says. “My children no longer complain of stomachaches since we filter the water before taking it,” she adds.
Nyambura services her loans using the money she earns from her kiosk business. She is also supported by her husband who is in the bodaboda (motorcycle) business. Burning with ambition, she is planning to invest more in rearing pigs since the demand for pork is very high in the neighbouring Witeithie trading centre as well as Thika town. She started this business with a seed capital of Kshs. 30,000 from Juhudi Kilimo.
Mr. Joseph Koima, the business development manager (products and partnerships) of Juhudi Kilimo is proud of Nyambura because of prudently using her loans to improve her family’s livelihood. “We are willing and able to finance her, so that she can achieve her dreams in business and farming,” he says.
