A Lupane-based Self Help Group (SHG) has successfully set up a poultry production micro-enterprise which supplies 100 broilers to its local market after every six (6) weeks.

Through this micro-enterprise, the Self Help Group members from St Gorge village in Lupane district have broken the huge yoke of poverty which they were previously trapped in.

One of the group members said group members are now financially empowered as they can afford to effortlessly take care of their families.

“Our major breakthrough came when we heard about Hand in Hand Zimbabwe through their local Enterprise Development Facilitator (EDF) in April 2021.

“We joined the Jobs Creation Project (JCP) and underwent business development trainings and we were trained on opportunity identification, financial literacy, and business management skills,” he said.

After the trainings, the group realised that there was a high demand of chickens from their local community and ventured into indigenous chicken production.

“We started our venture with indigenous chickens but we realised that they were very slow in terms of productivity and this affected our monthly income. The knowledge we received from Hand in Hand Zimbabwe however helped us to identify broiler production,” he said.

Moyo added that their business is striving as they have have since secured a huge customer base within their local community.

They sell an average of 100 broilers after every six weeks and are currently working on increasing production so as to meet customer demands.

In order to increase their income, the group members have individual enterprises and contribute USD$2 each member per month under their Internal Savings and Lending (ISALS) club. Members can borrow the money to nourish their enterprises.