Occasionally Hope Arising provides multiple loans to recipients like Etenesh Gonjoba, who used her first loan to establish a poultry business and a second loan to start a sheep fattening operation. These profits from her agribusinesses allowed her to improve her daughter’s education and to continuously improve her life.
Business training provided by Hope Arising played an important part in Etenesh’s decision to diversify her animal husbandry operations, a decision that proved critical to her self reliance when unexpected weather killed nearly 100 of her chickens. Because she also had her sheep, her business survived and the profits have enabled her to feed her family while recovering from this business setback. Etenesh explained, “My profits have declined [after the chickens died], but because Hope Arising helped, my life continues to improve.” Applying the principles of self reliance, Etenesh is already re-building her poultry business.