He runs a general merchandise shop with his wife

John Bosco Bahati and his wife, Josephine Uwimana, arrived in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in 2006 from Rwanda. On arrival in Uganda, the couple did not have any money, and so they engaged in casual jobs, such as digging in people’s plantations to earn some money and renting land for farming to feed his family. Bahati used to save some of the little money he used to earn and with time, he was able to open up a general merchandise shop.

In 2019, a sales officer from UGAFODE Microfince Limited (MDI) approached him during a customer mobilization drive and explained to him the about the services offered by UGAFODE Microfinance Limited (MDI), which included saving, borrowing and he was advised to open up an account. In November 2020, Bahati opened up an account and started saving with UGAFODE.

After one month, in December 2020, he borrowed UGX 5m. After paying back, he borrowed another of UGX 8m and in June 2022, he borrowed UGX 10m.

Bahati is grateful to UGAFODE for bringing financial services nearer to him in the refugee settlement, adding that the loans from UGAFODE have enabled him to increase his stock and expand his business, which has helped to increase his income. After growing his business, he was contracted by the World Food Programme to support in distributing food to refugees in the settlement under the card system.

In addition, with the increased income, Bahati can now comfortably pay for his children’s education. He has three children all of whom attend boarding school.

Bahati runs the business with his wife, Josephine Uwimana.

He is grateful for the opportunity that UGAFODE has given him to thrive. In addition, during the Tupo Pamoja Campaign in 2021, in which UGAFODE rewarded its customers, Bahati won water tank. He thanks UGAFODE for the tank, noting that it has made his life easy. “In Nakivale, we struggle with the challenge of water scarcity. I thank UGAFODE for giving me a tank, which has enabled me to store water, thus making my life easy.”