In Halaba Town, in rural southern Ethiopia, Desta runs a tailoring shop made from a canvas tarp and a few pieces of wood. It sits right by the road. It is small. But it is hers.
Desta is a mother of five. She trained as a tailor, but for years she could not find work. Her family lived on her husband's daily wages. Some days there was enough. Many days there wasn't.
Then Desta joined a SHE group.
SHE stands for Self Help Entrepreneurs. It is a program run by Roots Ethiopia that brings 20 women together to learn, grow, and support each other. Women's self-help groups like these have deep roots in southern Ethiopia — and the SHE program builds on that tradition with real business training and start-up support.
Through her SHE group, Desta got business training, materials to get started, and mentorship to help her grow. With her first loan from the group — topped up with help from friends and family — she bought a secondhand sewing machine and opened her shop. She also started making and selling handmade crochet, called Danitel, and vegetables to bring in extra income.
She paid back her first loan on time. Then she got another. And another. Each time she reinvested and grew.
"My life is right here at my shop. And my future too. It is for me and for my children. I am a business woman."
— Desta, Halaba Town, Southern Ethiopia
Today, Desta has over 5,000 Birr (about $32) in a bank account. Every week she puts 400 Birr (about $2.63) into a local savings together with her 19 fellow SHE members. Her kids go to school with what they need. They eat well. They have warm clothes.
She is not dependent on her husband's wages anymore. She is the one others look up to.
Desta's story is happening again and again across Kembata Tembaro, Hadiya, Wolayta, and Halaba. Twenty women at a time. Learning together. Building businesses together. Lifting their families together.
A $20 gift gives one woman her start.
For Desta it was a sewing machine. For the next woman it might be a basket, a stool, fabric, or thread. She decides what she needs. You make it possible.
