AKF Annual Report - Aga Khan Development Network

urn down his shop. Not willing to run the risk, Sacuru paid his brother-in-law 4,000 MZN (154 USD) in 2002
to construct a proper shop from cement, just in front of the shanty.
In 2005, during the drought period, there was a shortage of seeds for the village farmers. In an effort to
improve agricultural productivity, the AKF Coastal Rural Support Programme (CRSP) proposed to facilitate
access to essential farming tools and materials through a network of private rural shops. The challenge though
was finding someone who would agree to sell these items. Most shopkeepers did not see a profit in selling
farming tools and refused to collaborate with CRSP.
Sacuru was the sole shopkeeper who agreed to sell the tools. With the support and advice of CRSP, and
a business expansion loan of 5,000 MZN (192 USD) from the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance (AKAM),
he began stocking his shop with hoes, machetes, rasps, picks and a variety of seeds for maize, peanuts, beans,
sesame and millet, as well as cabbage, lettuce and carrots.
Farming tools have become a profitable business for Sacuru, and in 2006, he opened a second, newly
constructed shop in Mieze (also in the Pemba Metuge district). Here, he is well situated on the national road,
at the intersection of Cabo Delgado’s two largest cities, Pemba and Montepuez. This time, he paid his brotherin-law’s
construction fee with the equivalent in sales merchandise.
In the new shop, Sacuru has hired a long-time friend, Atanásio, as his first employee. Sacuru’s younger brother,
Age, has also learned the business and is eager to help out. But, Sacuru insists that education come first: “I told
him that business can be something that doesn’t last, and we cannot depend all on the same thing!”
With two successful shops, Sacuru makes sure that education is a family-wide investment: he has enrolled
Age and his two other brothers Matola and Culsuum in Grades 9 and 10, his wife in Grade 7 and his son in
Grade 5.
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