EM Fund Update 

Resilience is key in building a strong, sound and sustainable progressive economic base whenever you’re developing someone from scratch. It is a great honour and privilege to express my sincere gratitude to Bright Hope World for the unwavering and strong partnership we have had with you since 2008.

Indeed, it has been a blessing on our side to have been working with you on a number of partnerships ranging from Rukungiri income generating programme, Marumba Christian School, EM Fund (Emmanuel Mission Fund) and the maize milling programme.

Let me take this opportunity to talk about the EM fund.

History

This fund was established in 2017 with the idea of keeping it as a revolving fund and the purpose was to serve Emmanuel Mission churches and other related projects. The fund started with the following programmes;
1) Kyaterekera loan programme (Foundations for Farming)
2) Ntoroko goat programme
3) Kyaka business development
4) Kihihi micro loan programme
5) Rukungiri foundations for farming

The whole idea was to create a pool of funds where these groups and some individuals would continue borrowing money into their business and be repaid back. All the above-mentioned groups started well, however there was a misunderstanding at the beginning which caused financial losses to the fund. It was terrible to lose finances but the positive part of it is we were able to learn how to handle people and finances.

In June 2019, Reuben and I (Justus) had an opportunity to meet with Kevin and Helen in Mbarara town and we had a positive discussion on the EM fund and what was the next course for the fund. Through our discussion we requested some financial support to set up a maize milling business which we thought was a good business that would generate more income to support the school and the EM fund itself.

The request was not approved by BHW at that time, and we had to continue praying and believing God that one day our request would go through. As we all are aware 2020 was such a bad year for almost everyone around the world due to Covid-19 and it caused financial loss and lives. The EM fund lost huge sums of money because members were not paying even a single coin to the pool.

In 2021, we were so pleased that some funds in form of a loan was approved and sent to us for the purchase of hulling machine (US$3,000). At the start of 2022, I was privileged to rent a maize milling factory which was slightly bigger than the one I had in Mbarara.

It was unfortunate that we nearly spent a full year operating abnormally despite the good business opportunity we had, still BHW extended a hand in the form of a loan to help the business continue running. About US$3,000 was injected into the maize milling business. The fund came at a time when we had lost our first season in 2022 which usually runs from January-June.

All the above-mentioned funding includes US$6,000 for the milk cooler which was given to us in 2016. The total loan was US$12,000 which had been given to us as a loan to pay back into the EM fund.

This substantial funding in form of a loan would have been paid off by the end of last year but there were a lot of challenges beginning with Covid-19 which shattered all business in Uganda and later the Russia/Ukraine war impacted the progress of the fund negatively because most of our members were greatly affected. 

Current Status of Fund

Initially, EM fund was serving more than 200 members since we had begun with many groups, and they had quite a number of people. However, due to uncertainties a large number of our members dropped from these groups and as an administration team we came up with different strategies to make sure that this fund continued running. We changed from considering groups and moved to individuals who are already running small businesses but struggling to sustain them due to having little capital.

As of now, the number has reduced from 200 to 45 members and the 45 members are basically from three main areas of Rukungiri, Rushararazi and a few members from mid-west (Amos). The reason for running in three major areas was to build a few individuals' businesses and then we scale up to more members of other assemblies.

I will not mention the names of the members of this fund now, however, I hope to give you a more compressive report on this programme around April this year.

Currently the fund is running a budget of UGX35,000,000 (US$9,500) of which UGX20,0000,000 (US$5,400) is from the original funding of US$15,125 that was given to the original groups. Some groups from the mid-west joined another organization that is being run by a Congolese brother in Kampala. I still have hopes that we may revive our relationship with them and work together again but we lost some funds due to this break-up.

I have also been able to refund US$4,034 to the EM fund as a repayment for the loans that were given to me by BHW to purchase the huller and grain to run the milling business, and the milk cooler. The remaining balance on my loan to repay into the EM fund will be repaid in two instalments of US$4,000 and the payments will be done in April and June.

Therefore, we have all the reasons to praise God for the wonderful things He has done for us. 

Maize Milling Business

Currently, the maize milling business is working perfectly well because the harvest is great and food prices are dropping slowly. Therefore, we are so optimistic that there is much hope that this year would compensate for all the loses we got last year. Also, we have a reasonable amount of funds to run the business and if anything, we are prepared to take a fight within the competitive market.

Prayer and Praise Points

Praise points

1) I thank and praise God that the EM fund is still in existence
2) Our members are very resilient to keep the fund moving and growing despite the previous issues we had
3) Praise God that the maize harvest this year is plentiful
4) Praise God so much that January is over because it’s been one of the most difficult months of economic stress.
5) Praise God that our partnership with BHW still stands
6) Praise God that the maize milling business is running perfectly well unlike last year where it was almost collapsing
7) Praise God that some of my loans were paid including the one for EM fund.

Prayer points

1) Pray for the vibrant and progressively sustainable EM fund
2) Pray for stability of Uganda’s economy because there is still a financial crisis
3) Pray for the growth of capital and stability of the EM fund
4) Pray for the original groups to reconcile with us
5) Pray for more funding and recapitalization of the EM fund