Living a breath of FINCA

50-year-old Christina Chingeni is one of the first clients of FINCA Malawi who acquired her first loan of US$1 in 1994, and she is a mother of three children – Darlington, 30, Vusi, 28, and 25-year-old Nomsa.

During that time, Christina was doing a business of carrying curios from Malawi to sale in Zimbabwe, before she was awarded a contract of supplying food items at a famous Restaurant in the commercial city of Blantyre.

After spending six years with FINCA, in the year 2000 Christina utilised a loan of US$178, which she acquired from FINCA to purchase an air ticket and travelled to the United Kingdom to work.

“I used earnings from my job in the UK to repay the loan within one month. I was working as a care-giver for the elderly, and through that job I had an opportunity to do a course of Access to nursing – a health related course,” said Christina.

Christina came back home in Malawi in 2008 with assorted goods ranging from vehicles and household items, and immediately knocked on FINCA doors to acquire an individual loan of US$1, 000, which she used to pay tax (Duty) for the cars she bought in the UK.

After paying Duty, she sold some of the cars and invested the proceeds in restaurant and farming business. Using training skills in health related matters, which she acquired in the UK, Christina open a Pharmaceutical shop, and trained her husband to operate the shop.

In 2009, Christina joined FINCA Village Bank in her community and acquired a loan of US$333, which she invested in a farming business of rearing chickens and pigs, and she now boost of 100 chicks and 28 pigs. Her next mission is to buy another land to use it to build houses to lease out to potential tenants,” said Christina.