Tolon is located in the Northern Region of Ghana in the Tamale Metropolitan Area. It is one of the poorest regions in this country. A majority of the families live off less than $100 USD a year.
Their economy is mainly dependent upon agriculture. There are two seasons in Tolon, rainy and droughts. The dry season lasts from November to early April. During this long dry period, nothing grows and the families in this region desperately need other sources of income to help supplement their incomes during these challenging seasons.
Starting in January 2019, thanks to generous donations Mentors Ghana was able to open and maintain 24 loan center groups in the Tolon district in Ghana Africa. Two-three meetings are held monthly with each loan group.
Mentors Ghana is the first organization of its kind in this region. For many of these women, this is the first time they have had the opportunity to attend training/ educational classes of any sort. Many are unable to read or write. With such great poverty, there are many challenges to overcome.
Mentoring is the key ingredient needed to help overcome the mindset of extreme poverty. Many of these mothers from Tolon live day today. They do not know how to plan for the future.
While Mentors International has only been serving the women in the Tolon region for less than a year, we have made significant impacts with great results.
- 1,030 women in Tolon who have completed our business training course.
- Average loan amount is $79 USD.
- Average income increase after the first loan cycle is 57%.
- 100% of loans are to women.
- Repayment rate is 99.93%.
- 482 Jobs have been created
- 4,106 children have benefited from their mothers receiving training and growing their businesses.
Support other mothers and families when you join our community of difference makers and donate to Mentors International.
We teach these women business owners and entrepreneurs on how to develop a basic business plan while sharing other basic business skills such as inventory control, money management, and marketing. We train these mothers on how to cut product costs, create additional product lines, and even how to manage their personal finances. Our training is dynamic and customized to fit specific personal situations. Often these entrepreneurs create successful business opportunities in ways we could not have predicted.
The training and learning sessions are always held at the various communities and centers. A center consists of about 30 clients. At training sessions, a mentor is responsible to train and coach clients on business principles and coach on how to become successful in practicing these principles.
The learning sessions provide the opportunity for the mentor and the clients to share and learn ideas and experiences through the presentation of activities carried out, achievements, and challenges encountered and how to overcome them.
These business owners are also mothers with children. Often the meetings are filled with children playing to the side. These meetings are not in schools or buildings. They are held in the center of the village, under trees, or where you can find shade during the hot African days.
Many of the rural women living in Tolon are illiterate. They are unable to write letters or numbers. Our mentoring team has come up with some creative ways to teach these women how to record their business transactions. Some women will make tally marks on a sheet of paper, some even write on the wall of their business. Others have been taught to put stones in a bucket. As they buy products they put corresponding stones in their bucket. As they sell their inventory they take the stones out.
