Thank You for Empowering Success

Microfinance: Community Savings Groups in Tanzania

Dear friends,

Join Five Talents for a Vision Trip

Two weeks ago my wife, Lynn, and I had a meaningful trip visiting some of our savings groups in Tanzania. About eight friends of Five Talents joined in this “vision trip,” which we try to offer in different areas each year. Our next trip will probably be to Uganda in the April-June period next year. Please let me know if any of you are interested.

A successful entrepreneur trained by Five Talents in Tanzania.

I was amazed to see how fast the program has grown in Tanzania in only 2 ½ years. And I was heartened to see strong, new leaders who give us hope and who teach us over and over again how important local leaders are, rather than us trying to run things with staff from the US or the UK.

Creative and Successful Entrepreneurs

It was fun to see an entrepreneur with a little store, who cut up a big block of soap to sell in small pieces.

We met a woman who created her own modular “roof tiles.” She wove together small bundles of tree fronds (like palm fronds) into “tiles” that others could use to quickly thatch a roof.

We were welcomed by an entrepreneur who understood how much people there love soccer. He rented a satellite dish and bought a little TV to make his own “movie theater” under a grass roof with no walls. He ran the system off of solar panels and also charged cell phones.

We talked with a woman who had a treadle-powered sewing machine to make dresses, and who designed and created bright, colorful, plastic baskets that she wove by hand.

These entrepreneurs have big plans for growth, and I believe they will succeed.

Thank you for helping to make it possible. Until next Monday morning,

Dale Stanton-Hoyle,
Executive Director