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By Betsy Ramser Jaime
‘l am Tessy Eze, and I work and live in Lagos state, Nigeria.’ Tessy is married to an Enugu man and they have 2 children in higher institutions. In her free time she really loves cooking as a hobby.
Tessy stays busy with both a day job and a side business. As her primary source of income, Tessy is a civil servant and works for a well-known organization in Marina, Lago in Nigeria. In this job she works typical business hours from Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. Then, in her free time, she also operates a provisions shop where she sells retail and wholesale food items.
Since joining the Zidisha community in November 2019, she has raised 9 Zidisha funded loans.
With each loan, she has been able to purchase additional inventory and goods for her shop.
A few months after her initial loan, Tessy successfully raised $23 sharing, ‘l want to use the money to buy goods and stock in my provision shop to sell to my customers in Lagos.’
Through her loans with Zidisha, Tessy has been able to keep her shop stocked and give her customers a wide variety of inventory that she might not be able to supply otherwise. This also allows her customers to trust her and to continue returning to her shop.
Tessy is also providing great convenience for her customers by having a nearby shop so that they don’t need to travel long distances to purchase household goods and items.
Tessy shares, ‘My business will not face any risk because I deal with everyday goods which everybody needs that’s foodstuffs and provision. As long as life continues human beings must eat so I will continue to make sales and pay my loan as when due.’
On May 2, 2021, Tessy took to her Zidisha discussion page and said, ‘The loan I collected really helped in making my shop viable in my area. I had enough goods stocked in my shop for sales to customers staying around my vicinity. I made good sales and was able to pay all my bills. All thanks to all my lenders and Zidisha family.’
Would you like to make a difference in the life of an entrepreneur like Tessy? Make sure to head on over to our Browse Projects page to see what is happening with other Zidisha business owners around the world.
Betsy is a Writer and Editor living in Florida with her husband. She has been writing with Zidisha for 5 years and loves sharing the inspiring stories of Zidisha entrepreneurs. You can connect with her on her personal website.