| |
| Small Enterprise Market Challenge |
|
| Project Director |
| Tamba Traore, Scott Lacy |
|
Project Number |
Total Cost (US$) |
Location |
FS04-09 |
$21.74 |
Markala, Mali |
|
Project Details
In summer 2009, while Executive Director Scott Lacy and his interns from Emory University were settling
down for the evening meal at the home of our Country Director Tamba Traore, a young man from
Markala, Mali arrived with a proposal. He presented Lacy with a bag of Dogon bracelets and artifacts
passed on to him by his grandmother. The man, Bourama Kassogue lived in Markala, but his family is
from the Dogon area in northern Mali. Kassogue said he wanted to sell the artifacts because his job as a
night watchman did not pay enough money to maintain his household.
Lacy reviewed the items Kassoge brought to sell, and realized these items were in fact invaluable
historical artifacts that could easily be placed in a museum. Lacy analyzed the pieces, asked a few
questions, and then led an informal archaeology workshop to demonstrate the value of the items to
Kassogue and to the Emory student interns.
Once Kassogue understood the value of his bracelets and artifacts, Lacy explained that Kassogue could
place the items in a regional folk museum, which would pay for the right to hold and display them without
terminating Kassogue's rights to reclaim them. To encourage Kassogue to keep his family heirlooms in his
family's possession, Lacy offered him a small enterprise grant. The grant, which Kassogue accepted,
provided enough money to purchase some basic supplies to start a simple business selling small wares
(candies, pens, tea, sugar, powdered milk, notebooks, etc.) outside his home. Many people sell small
wares or foods outside their households to earn money for family needs. Kassogue accepted the grant
and used the funds to purchase supplies to open a small mini-market. Country Director Tamba Traore
worked with Kassogue to mentor his record keeping and business practices. Lacy and Traore promised
Kassogue to re-invest in his small business in six months if Kassogue agreed to keep good records of how
he managed his first small enterprise grant.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
