From selling millet balls to multi-businesswoman entrepreneur

Mina Abdou speaks with passion about her children. "All the sacrifices I make are for their well-being and development. My husband and I did not have the chance to go to school. But I would like my children to go far in school and be useful to our community. This is my most ardent wish, " she said.

Mina, 25, is a member of the community of Guidan Rana, located about 430 kilometers from the Niger capital, in the Tahoua region. A mother of three, she is very involved in the education of her children. Like the local population, her family lives by farming and raising livestock.

Mina's family and other community members have faced many challenges, including access to health, education, and food. In recent years these challenges have been exacerbated by disastrous agricultural seasons due to erratic weather patterns. This has severely hampered the development of the village, causing a high level of youth migration to Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, and Libya.

Faced with these challenges, Mina took matters into her own hands, not only to help her husband who struggles to make ends meet, but also to ensure the best possible development for her children. "My husband is a brave man. He does what he can to provide for the family, but it is almost impossible. That's why I set up activities that could earn money even before I turned 20," said Mina.

Mina started with a small business, namely millet balls, a common dish eaten by Nigeriens who call it "Foura" in Hausa, her native language and the most spoken in Niger. Gradually, she developed other activities, in particular market gardening and goat fattening. "I was doing several small businesses, but the results weren't consistent as I was not well organized," she said. 

However, since the implementation of the World Bank-funded Youth Employment and Productive Inclusion Project in Guidan Rana, Mina’s ambitions have taken on a different scale.

The project, which started in 2019, aims to support income-generating activities for poor youth in rural and urban areas of Niger.  It includes two productive inclusion programs, one for 36,000 young people in rural areas, and another for 5,000 young people in urban and peri-urban areas.

The program for rural youth covers community sensitization, creation of village youth savings groups, training in life skills and entrepreneurship, provision of grants to start productive activities, and youth coaching and mentoring. More than 24,000 rural youth have already benefited from it.

While impact evaluation is on-going, a recent evaluation of a similar program supporting poor women in Niger showed very strong effectiveness, significant impact on economic activities and diversification, psychological well-being, and food security, social and financial inclusion, as well as women’s empowerment.

The project team created two youth groups of 35 members each, one of men and the other of women in Guidan Rana. "The project team trained us on life skills and micro-entrepreneurship to better manage our lives and families but also to support successful businesses," said Balkissa Oumarou, the commissioner of the account of the savings group of young women.

Mina has been nominated president of the group, which is called Amana, or trust.

Thanks to the project, Mina has developed a flourishing business, particularly through the production of onion plants, the Galmi onion, also called "violet Galmi", famous throughout West Africa, which she sells to market gardeners. "This variety of onion is in high demand. Many trucks registered abroad come to buy it. As soon as I can, I will start growing it on a large scale," she said.  

Moreover, thanks to the considerable profit she made from goat fattening, Mina has been able to rent a field to grow millet and okra. "My business has grown a lot, and I now contribute a lot more to the family. Our diet has improved. Thanks to my crops, we save on buying grains and we have more varied meals. I no longer rely on my husband for emergencies," she said. 

Balkissa has been able to develop another business just as successful as Mina's -sewing. "I love to sew and I always wanted to make a business out of it. As soon as I received my grant, I bought a sewing machine. It completely changed my life. With the income, I am able to pay for my mother’s tuberculosis treatment," she said.

Mina is an inspiration to everyone. To help the villagers cope with disastrous agricultural seasons, she bought the grains the villagers needed most - 10 bags of millet and 5 bags of peanuts- and sold them at reduced prices. "Now that my family members are safe from need, I would like to contribute to my community and especially to the children of Guidan Rana. The future of the village is in their hands," said Mina.