Muna

My name is Muna Yugusuk and I am a small business owner. I am a certified nurse assistant and I have a job in the morning. I am a single mom of three.

With the rising prices of almost everything, one job was not enough to sustain my family. At the same time, I could not work extra hours in the evening and leave the kids alone at home after school. So, the only option I had was to look for another source of income, which must be home based. First, I started by making cookies just on special annual occasions such as Christmas, Easter, Eid and other annual events. I took orders from very close friends. The income was small and only on specific times of the year.

I heard about Solidarity Microfinance from a community member, who was a client. She was more financially stable and advised me to join. When I joined the Solidarity Microfinance loan program four years ago and received my first loan, I expanded my business. I added pastries and gradually added cooking different types of food. I have now started a home-based event catering company, which really improved my income so much. Now I have orders not only for the cookies on special occasions but also food and pastries throughout the year.

My journey with Solidarity Microfinance is worth mentioning because it gave me financial stability, which means I can save money for the dark days. It also taught me teamwork. I interact with different people with whom we share our ideas and setbacks. We always come out of our biweekly meetings with positive feedback on how to better our businesses. I look forward to climbing higher with Solidarity Microfinance and thank them for this chance.