'It's just incredible' - how a micro-leasing solution helped women in Tanzania build their own businesses

When Victoria Kisyombe’s husband passed away, she wanted to generate some extra income for herself and her three young children.

Despite working as a veterinary doctor, she was refused credit by a series of banks. This is because in Tanzania land and property are often passed down through the male line, leaving Kisyombe with no property in her name and no collateral to borrow against.

But the setback forced her to look at what she did have – including a cow left to her by her husband.

It was not just a cow, she realized. “It was actually a productive asset because I could milk it and generate additional income for myself and my family. That triggered my journey.”

Just 12% of women in Tanzania use bank services and about 60% of women live in extreme poverty, according to the United Nations.

Inspired by her experience, Kisyombe set out to help women across Tanzania access financing outside of traditional institutions.

In 2002, Kisyombe founded the micro-leasing company Sero Lease and Finance Limited (Selfina).

By leasing assets such as milling machines, tractors and oil presses, the business is helping women across Tanzania develop and grow sustainable micro-enterprises in sectors including agriculture, education and food production.

Once approved for a lease, customers make monthly installments to Selfina, gradually gaining ownership of the asset. According to Kisyombe, this eventual ownership is important to help cut the poverty cycle; it gives the women the company works with a tangible asset and a traceable credit history.

“It’s just incredible,” she says. “From not being accepted by the bank and then, all of a sudden, the banks see them producing hundreds of bags of maize or whatever, and then they take them in as their clients. And to me, that is very satisfying.”

The company also monitors the effectiveness of its work through impact assessments. And there have been some impressive results, Kisyombe recalls, including one woman who leased a small tractor from Selfina.

“Before she leased this tractor, she used to harvest, say, 20 bags of rice paddy per year. But [with] the tractor we leased to her, she was able to plough her land early enough to benefit from the early rains.

“There was a remarkable increase in the amount of paddy she was harvesting – it shot from 20 to 1,500 bags.”

Selfina says its model offers women an alternative to cash loans, which can be used for general spending, so do not lead to direct wealth creation. But impact can be achieved by empowering women with the tools to grow their business.

Kisyombe remembers that the rice farmer, alongside selling her produce, hired out the tractor to others – which made a big difference in a village that previously had just one ox and plough.

Working in five regions across the country, Selfina has provided leases to 31,000 women, which has created 150,000 jobs and impacted 300,000 people, according to the company.

“It's changing lives, one woman at a time,” Kisyombe says. “And I know when you change the life of a woman, it means changing the family and also the society around her.”

Enabling more women owners of micro, small and medium enterprises in Tanzania to access formal sources of finance also represents a market opportunity of $1.7 billion, about 4% of the country’s GDP, the World Bank estimates.

When Kisyombe started Selfina, no law protected leased assets in Tanzania. Within a few years, however, the company’s work caught the attention of the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group.

Kisyombe worked with the organization to get a bill to safeguard lessors’ rights tabled to the country’s National Assembly. She was invited to the Assembly to share her experiences of her work and the bill was later passed into law.

She has also earned accolades, including the Outstanding Social Entrepreneur Award from the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs. Now, more than two decades into her entrepreneurial journey, Kisyombe has a strong message for women in Tanzania and beyond.

“Women should not give up – they have huge potential,” she says. “They just need to commit themselves to what they’re doing and then follow the ABCs of running a business.