Felicia Lango

"My WildHearts Trust Bank is like a family, we trust each other and want to help each other".  Felicia Lango.

I am thirty seven years old. I am married and live with my husband and our three children in a mud house in Bole in northern Ghana. I run a Pito brewing business to support my family financially, particularly to meet my children’s school needs.

Pito is made from fermented millet or sorghum and brewing the drink is a popular business among the women in the northern regions of Ghana. Pito is considered to be an instant source of energy for work and also plays an important part in social obligations such as marriages, funerals and naming ceremonies. I learnt Pito brewing from my aunt in Wa, who I stayed with after my parents died and I was forced to drop out of school.

After hearing about WildHearts from friends, I took a micro-loan from them to expand my business in order to attract more customers. After going through 6 weeks orientation, where I learnt about financial management, the importance of savings and record keeping, I received my first ever loan of £144 which I used to buy sorghum, yeast, wood and other ingredients needed to make Pito. I’ve also been able to set up benches and a shed near my house to attract customers and encourage them to stay longer.

I am so excited by the changes I have seen to my business since taking my WildHearts loan. I can now brew my Pito twice a week and have been told by customers they can’t live without it because it is simply the best! In this business it is very important that you treat your customers well or you lose them to your competitors; the training from WildHearts has helped me with this a lot. I’ve been ploughing the profits from my business into my family, making sure the children have enough to eat and can attend school. Because I couldn’t finish my schooling it is very important to me that my own children get the opportunity to get an education and go far. I am very proud to be able to give them this chance.

With the money I have been saving each week I have just been able to buy a small plot of land. My dream is to save enough to build my own home on it so we no longer need to live in our mud house. Until I took my WildHearts loan I thought this would be impossible, but now I feel that one day soon I will achieve this.
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