Small businesses are the backbone of thriving communities, but access to capital is often a major barrier to getting started. Emattan saw an opportunity in Tanzania to change that narrative by providing microfinance support to help over 300 regular everyday Tanzanians to launch their own businesses.

Around 2013, Paldina Raymond Laiser had the skill to sew but not the means to start. Without a machine, turning that skill into a livelihood felt out of reach — until Emattan stepped in with a micro-finance loan to help her buy her first one.

Paldina got to work. As her craft caught attention, so did the demand for her dresses — and she reinvested in her business as it grew. Today she runs her own shop in Dar es Salaam and employs six people. Her designs have gone from local commissions to the stage: suits for singers, wedding gowns, business attire, and pieces featured in Tanzanian fashion shows.

Paldina has said starting without machines was one of the hardest parts of the journey — and that Emattan’s support was what made it possible to keep going. Her story is proof of what a single loan, paired with skill and persistence, can build.

Elisifa served as Emattan’s educational coordinator, working closely with the children in our programs — a role she loved. Her family’s roots run in agriculture: gardens, cows, and chickens have been a part of how they live and provide for their community.

With a microfinance loan, Elisifa and her family started a chicken farm, raising poultry that grew into a thriving source of income — high-quality eggs sold to local hotels. It was a venture that reflected who she was: someone who built things that lasted, and who lifted up the people around her in the process.

Elisifa passed away during COVID, but her family’s work continues. Her husband and children remain central to what makes Emattan possible in Tanzania today, and her daughter will carry the family’s chicken-raising expertise forward at our Kisarawe campus — a new generation building on what Elisifa started.

Mama Kettle Corn, with the support of Emattan’s micro-financing loans, embarked on a remarkable journey of empowerment in Tanzania.

The Tanzanian government is trying its best to provide health centers, but the need is so great that cannot reach all citizens. As of 2023, there is one healthcare facility for every 43,000 people. Most families cannot afford transport and health insurances because of their financial capabilities. Emattan and other stake holders have stepped in to help by building this medical clinic in Mburahati, located in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

In 2015, Emattan brought computer training to people in Mburahati — the same community where we also supported a school and later built the medical clinic. Many kids already knew their way around a computer, so rather than teaching basics, Michael, Emattan’s Design Director, taught a composition class instead, focused on principles of visual design.

One student, Danford, took to it immediatly. He went on to become one of the designers for a major Tanzanian television network, Star Times — a career that traces back to that class and developing digital design skills on those computers.

Access to the right skills, at the right moment, can change the direction of a child’s life. That’s what Emattan set out to make possible.

Long before Kisarawe became our focus, Emattan supported education wherever we saw a need — building classrooms, constructing playgrounds, providing meals, and furnishing schools with the basics student need to learn: desks, chairs, clean water.

In July 2024, Soccer Shots donated soccer jerseys for Emattan’s elementary students in Kisarawe. It is our hope that soccer will bring community and families together, so they can also participate in the vocational training and resources the property will bring.

In 2010, Emattan helped to construct an aquaponics system for, Rancho Maranatha, an orphanage in Mexico. Aquaponics — a technique with roots in anceint farming traditions, including Aztec agriculture — uses nutrient rich water from fish waste to feed and water crops, creating a closed, self-sustaining cycle.

Emattan’s dedication to building such a farm in Haiti not only addresses environmental challenges, but also offers a lifeline to local communities.