Angelic Touch Deco
Case Studies – Agriculture
Enita Mbewe, 27
Entrepreneur
Enita was running a hair salon in Malawi, earning a small salary. In 2012 she began running a second business, Angelic Touch Deco, providing wedding venue decorations. She wanted to increase her income as it was needed to feed and clothe her children as well as send them to school.
At around the same time, Enita became aware of Grow Movement through a local partner organisation, National Association of Business Women (NABW).
Monika Gierszewska, 29
Consultant
Monika was looking for a charity supporting entrepreneurs in emerging markets but she wanted to get actively involved in something rather than just donating money. Grow Movement appealed because it enabled her to contribute time, skills and experience to make a real life difference.
Business challenges and objectives of the project
Enita wanted to start a small business but didn’t have enough knowledge of marketing and financial planning. She had a vision: that her business should be well known all over the country and operating in all three regions of Malawi. But she needed to increase her confidence to achieve this.
Initially Monika was worried about cultural differences and whether these would make it difficult to contribute so she allowed herself time to adapt to business circumstances in Malawi. Taking her time, along with receiving mentoring guidelines from Grow, helped her plan hourly skype sessions and guide Enita to come to her own conclusions to help her business grow.
The Results
Monika took Enita through all the aspects of business: operations, strategy, finances, marketing, sales and human resources. Enita was already keeping track of money coming in and going out but Monika taught her to manage a balance sheet and a cash flow. Monika and Enita also looked at marketing both Enita’s businesses to attract more sales. She now knows how to advertise and calculate the profit and loss of her business.manager.
The mentoring relationship enabled her to look ahead and plan for future investments of equipment and people.
The Impact on Enita
“I am recommending Grow to many people as it has helped me with my business and enabled me to employ more people. I want other entrepreneurs to benefit as well. I have gained real business skills by working with Grow..”
The Impact on Monika
“I got huge satisfaction from helping someone succeed and improve their quality of life. I was overjoyed to hear that, eight months later, Enita has created three more jobs and increased her profits by 65%. I will definitely mentor more entrepreneurs through Grow and am encouraging all my friends and colleagues to do the same.”
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