Hopeline has been an active partner in Partners Worldwide's global network since 2010, aligning with the global vision of a world without poverty. With an investment from the Adrian Dominican Sisters, Partners Worldwide is changing lives across Ghana through Hopeline Institute.
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Alice Amartey stands with her rice mill machine.
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Take Alice Amartey, for example. She is the owner of Nyame Beye Foods, one of Hopeline Institute's small-medium enterprise (SME) clients. When her parents could no longer afford her school fees, she had to drop out. Working with her mother selling corn, she realized trading was her passion.
Alice started trading rice on a small scale. She bought rice from local farmers within her vicinity and processed the rice to sell to a few customers. In a few months, she realized the need and opportunity to expand her business. She saw a demand and ready market for the local rice.
Her main challenge was access to capital to expand and sustain the booming business. That is when Alice was introduced to the benefits of Hopeline Institute, including their Village Saving and Loans (VSLA).
Alice attended Hopeline Institute while still a micro entrepreneur, receiving targeted business training, followed by four micro-loans over a period of one year. Working with support from Hopeline Institute, Alice has grown her business from micro to a small-medium enterprise. Alice graduated from Hopeline's first SME Business Development Training class and subsequently received a SME loan for her business.
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The small-scale rice farmers whose product Alice markets work in their fields.
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Today, Alice employs up to 10 workers in her rice processing business, and three other laborers on her four hectare rice plantation. She also directly supports and adds value to hundreds of small-scale, vulnerable rice farmers from the Eastern, Northern, and Volta regions of Ghana.
When asked what her greatest joy was, she smiled and said, "Nothing gladdens my heart more than to help and support others to afford a decent living. Through Hopeline Institute, I realized my business was an avenue for me to propagate the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
She is now a better business person, who is more concerned about the customer and the kind of impact her business makes in her community and the world at large.
About Partners Worldwide
The vision of Partners Worldwide is to end poverty so that all may have life and have it abundantly. We mobilize long-term, hands-on global relationships to form a powerful Christian network that uses business as the way to create flourishing economic environments in all parts of the world. We engage experienced business people who deeply commit to and partner with the local community institutions. This builds up permanent local capacity designed to catalyze entrepreneurs and job creators and to celebrate business as a calling to do God's work. Visit www.partnersworldwide.org to learn more.
