The bakery is cooking…
Posted by Kaitlin Walter, Fellow
The Uta Bakery is in full swing as the season is changing from spring to summer in South Africa. We are baking 200-300 loaves of bread per day, and as the recent Think Impact Global Development Ambassadors can confirm, the bread is delicious! Everyday, the bakery staff, Cedrick, Thomas, Nature, and Solani, start the mixer at 4 a.m., and they bake until the smell of fresh bread fills the air. The focus of my project has shifted to the microfinance initiative that seeks to bring social entrepreneurship to the village of Uta.
I am currently working with a group of local volunteers, including bakery staff members, who have formed a committee to design and implement a microloan program. The committee will construct an application process for interested entrepreneurs, and based on the committee’s selection process, small loans will eventually be granted and then recipients will be supported by the committee as they pay back the loans to the microfinance group. The committee has a meeting today, after which I will post an update on our progress!
