Supermarket Success

Our partner Rhoda in South Sudan dreamt for years to open a local supermarket to supply needed items purchased at wholesale prices from the 200 local women farmers in the women’s cooperative she began a few years ago. Last summer, SowHope funded the supermarket, providing easy access to essential items for 5,000 people who live in the area. It also gives a place of employment and training in business and management for the local women’s group who is now tasked to run it.

Before the supermarket, women had to walk to a store 6 miles away to purchase food, cleaning supplies, and medicine. The local women farmers incurred heavy expenses from transporting their products to town for sale, cutting their profit margins significantly.

The supermarket has created the opportunity for more people in the area to start small businesses supplying the supermarket with other items of interest, such as clothes and shoes, cleaning supplies, toiletries, and even sweets. It has become a place for people to meet and socialize as well.

This project has served to “…enlighten the community about the progress women can make when given a small opportunity. It has increased the dignity of the women in the cooperative and change has come. Now more women want to join.” says Rhoda. Thank you for your support for women like these in South Sudan.