Instead of shutting down, TOLI groups around the world are training up
The pandemic may have shut down economic growth in TOLI communitites, but it hasn't shut down the desire to learn, change, and dream of a better future.
Proof? When we proposed offering our business training course this fall in the Kiandutu slum in Kenya, nearly 100 people signed up, ready to learn entrepreneurship and small business skills.
However, it was a challenge to find a space large enough to meet safely. After plans for two different meeting rooms fell through, these hopeful students took matters into their own hands: They found some iron sheets and wood poles and, in a nearby empty lot, built a training space with their own hands.
Since then, this ‘classroom’ (pictured above) has hosted more than 80 students, who've all successfully completed TOLI’s Business Basics Course. Their next step? Microloans and new businesses that will help them provide for their families and community.
IN PICTURES: TOLI students get equipped for a new future
TOLI groups around the world have capitalized on this season to train up current and future emerging business owners. Go on a PHOTO TOUR of small business training happening now at TOLI sites around the world:
MORE THAN A BUSINESS COURSE
In the last two months, groups in Egypt, Kenya, Nicaragua, and Ethiopia have taken advantage of TOLI’s Business Basics Course (BBC). Our curriculum was revised and customized this year, and translated into 3 languages (Arabic, Spanish, and Amharic). This unique small-group experience was created specifically for non-literate or low-literacy learners, and is contextualized for local culture. It weaves together:
> Worship and Biblical foundations
> Explorations of identity, worth, capacity, and creativity
> Basic business topics like marketing, savings, budgeting, and customer care
> Confidence-building, goal-setting, and leadership development
> Team building and group bonding
Equipped with this powerful training — training that transforms both the mind and heart — these students are now ready to apply for a TOLI microloan to help build their own small business.
As economies recover from COVID and families look for ways to thrive, this training is more valuable than ever. Thank you for helping us deliver it to the people and places it’s needed most.
Join us Tuesday — live from Kenya
Join us Tuesday at noon (MST), and you’ll meet Humphrey Kanga, founder and CEO of TOLI partner KCK Ministries in Kenya. He’ll share the latest updates on our microloan program there and specific ways we can be praying. To join us, email Liza Cunningham to receive your Zoom link.
Got Pie. Gave Hope. …THANK YOU!
This year’s Get Pie Give Hope event blew us away. The COVID-friendly “pie-through” in October raised more than $10,000 to support TOLI. You bought every last piece of 51 incredibly delicious Gold Star pies (that’s 357 slices, if you're counting), and turned them into more than 37 microloans for poor entrepreneurs through your donations.
A BIG thank you to Heather Briggs of Gold Star Pies, who baked and donated all the pies, as well as the grand prize Gold Star Pie Truck Party. And thanks to our awesome volunteers and everyone who came out to support TOLI and savor sweet pie together.
Gold Star Pies' Heather Briggs and TOLI Executive Director, Abigail McConnell, at last month's Get Pie Give Hope event.
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