Zimbabwe: Sithokozile Moyo – TS Cookies

Sithokozile Moyo got married at 25 but was not accepted by her in-laws. She was always in trouble and her husband, Sigubhu, did not offer any protection from the harassment.  Her in-laws accused her of being in the marriage for material benefits.

In 1996 she gave birth to her first daughter Luba. She grew up well until when she turned four and developed a brain tumour. Moyo was devastated but managed to seek medical attention for her daughter. Sigubhu always said he was busy with his business but he never brought money home or provided for the family. She failed to raise some money for their daughter’s operation. In 2000 Luba died because of the tumour and that affected Moyo very badly. She endured living in an abusive relationship and the loss lost of her daughter who was her only source of joy and hope made things worse. She was involved in a car accident that left her seriously injured. Sigubhu was not concerned about the state she was in as he continued being abusive at the same time having no money in the house and no one to take care of her.

In 2005, she returned to her parents’ home and left everything behind. She felt that it was the right thing to do. She left behind a house, a farm and all the properties they had acquired together with her husband. Her hard work never paid off after all. In 2011 Sigubhu died and she did not get anything from what was left behind. She finally got in touch with Gender Links (GL) and the entrepreneurship workshops that she attended were very beneficial to her. She is now a master in her right. She can even lend some advice to others who will be in the same situation she used to be in.

The GL training made Moyo start a business of her own. She has managed to do well because she believes that she is very capable. She has been able to buy gadgets such as a refrigerator because of the project’s success. She is getting plenty of orders in her biscuit manufacturing business such that some well known companies had proposed to partner with her. She currently has a bank account and her business is growing.Moyo believes that she is doing a lot to the community through sharing gender based violence information which she obtained from GL. She feels indebted to GL for fostering some entrepreneurial skills that she has used to economically empower herself with. Moyo said that it was not a challenge to access funds to start her business as she got some help from her relatives because they were aware of what she had gone through. She is using some space at her home to run her business. She finds market from the community and she easily keeps her financial records.

Before the training Moyo had learnt some basic computer skills. However, she set up her email address, twitter, Facebook and google accounts after the entrepreneurship training. That assisted her business very much as she can now communicate with her clients and other business partners. She also makes use of WhatsApp to market her products.