PORTRAITS
Oumarou, a young tinsmith of 31 years of age, lives with his wife and two children in the Tampouy district of Ouagadougou. He works in his improved stove workshop with his father who taught him his trade at a very early age and then passed on the workshop to him eleven years ago. Two young boys are also employed there. Each morning, Oumarou travels on his motor bike to his workshop where he works from 8am to 6pm.
Products useful for the community in three ways The improved stoves help to cut wood consumption, and hence deforestation, and also reduce the fuel budgets of those using them. They also achieve noticeable reductions in emissions of harmful fumes which women are exposed to when cooking. Using hammers, chisels, cutters and pincers, Oumarou works the iron to produce three improved stoves a day. They are then stored and sold wholesale or retail. |
OUMAROUhas significantly improved his production of improved cookstoves.
Strong community involvement
Oumarou is the secretary-general of the Improved Stove Producers Association of Burkina Faso (ABFAF). The association enables its members to pool their strengths, promote themselves better to the public, provide mutual encouragement and to find markets. When Oumarou is not in his workshop, he represents his association and seeks out new distribution channels for his stoves. Orders from Nafa Naana and major impacts Raw materials are expensive and Oumarou lacked the financial resources to buy them. Since 2010, the Improved Stove Producers Association has received very large orders from Nafa Naana along with cash advances of 50% to fulfil these orders. This enabled Oumarou to boost his production. In 2013, he bought household equipment and saved 200,000 CFA francs (€305). Now, Oumarou is thinking big: he hopes to convert his craft workshop into a semi-industrial workshop and wants to involve the whole family in sheep farming as a means of diversifying the household income. |
Thérèse, who is 53 years old, was born in the province of Sabguié (160 km west of Quagadougou). Thérèse was one of 10 children, and she left school at the age of 10 as her father refused to continue paying her schooling. Thérèse is a widow, and though she had three children she now lives with her 35 year-old son, who is her only surviving child, on the outskirts of Ouagadougou.
Having traded in selling wood, then the preparation and sale of dolo*, Thérèse now rears 15 pigs and 5 hens in her yard. Despite difficulties encountered in buying animal feed, and her livestock being weakened by sickness, Thérèse hopes to soon realise her dream and rear sheep. An economic and social activity Thérèse is president of Teg Wendé, an association for widows who are members of the Somb-Namé Federation (The good that you create in Moore). Through the Association, Thérèse heard about Nafa Naana, a social enterprise started by Entrepreneurs du Monde to make energy accessible to the poorest families. Convinced of the utility of solar-powered lamps and portable stoves, Thérèse attended a 2 day training session. Since then she has become a leader at the local shop and is |
THERESE
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Ema, 35, lives in a stone house in Dano, with her husband Mahamadi, a retailer, and their two children, Landys and Innocent, who are both at school. They also look after two relatives. Ema lived in Côte d’Ivoire for a few years, before returning to Dano in 2007.
A very active yogourt producer For two years, Ema has been making yogurt in her small shop, every day from 6am to 8am and 12pm to 2pm. For the rest of the day, she sells her yogurt at Dano bus station. She already has all the equipment she needs to make her yogurt: refrigerators to keep it fresh, and a cooler to transport it. However, recent power cuts have damaged her fridges. This year, she has needed to have them repaired 4 times, which puts a heavy burden on her turnover. Better production conditions thanks to Nafa Naana Ema a connu Nafa Naana dans le cadre d’une opération de démarchage des restauratrices de Dano, menée par la boutique locale Nafa Naana. |
EMA
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Christiane started school at 7, and kept attending until she was 14. When she was 18 she married a builder’s labourer, who currently earns 125,000 CFA francs (€191) per month. The eldest three of their four children have passed their middle school exams and progressed to high school. They are her pride and joy.
Ten years ago Christiane started an income-generating activity to help her husband with the family expenses, especially their children’s school fees. She initially sold gruel, rice, peanuts and doughnuts from a stall outside her house, before turning her hand to selling clothes and soap that she makes in the Mittib-Managda women’s group. She also sells wood that she stores at her house, and raises goats and pigs in her yard. A new business profitable for all Cheick works for Nafa Naana, a social enterprise created at the instigation of Entrepreneurs du Monde to distribute gas stoves, improved coal or wood stoves and solar-powered lamps. At the beginning of 2013, he gave a talk to the Somb Namé federation, of which the Mittib-Managda association is a member. His presentation convinced Christiane: she immediately took part in a training course for new vendors and launched her business. Her trade includes the people of her district but also covers |
CHRISTIANE
I sell heating and lighting products which reduce both costs and deforestation!” the whole of Ouagadougou. Her gas stoves in particular sell like hot cakes. Clients can pay in four instalments, all of which Christiane carefully records, and she has had no problems with non-payment. Becoming a Nafa Naana distributor has allowed her to diversify her activities and to increase her income, and to help preserve the environment at the same time.
A convinced and convincing user Christiane has already bought two lamps, one gas stove and one improved stove for her own family’s use. Whereas before she had to spend 1,500 CFA francs (€2.30) per week on wood and coal, this sum now lasts a whole month! As she uses Nafa Naana’s products herself, this gives her a very good sales pitch. She no longer sells much wood, but the income from using and selling Nafa Naana products largely makes up for this loss. Thanks to all of these activities, Christiane has already managed to save 210,000 CFA francs (€320). This will allow her children to continue their studies and fulfil their ambitions: one wants to join the armed forces, another wants to be a company boss and the third one aims to be a judge. As for Christiane herself, she would like to open a proper shop to sell Nafa Naana products in her neighbourhood. |