Addis Ababa - Manush Ambaye carefully places pieces together to form the upper part of a chimney. "These ovens use less wood than a normal fireplace," she said, proudly describing the advantages of the ovens she builds in her small workshop.
"And because you don't cook with open fire, it's also safer for children," she added, lovingly stroking the head of her 2-year-old son, who latches on to her dress. Ambaye, a 29-year-old mother of three from Rema, about 150 kilometres from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, is a successful owner of a small business.
Having given birth to her first baby at the age of 16, Ambaye was able to attend school for only a few years. But the farmer's daughter knows her basic rights and has a willingness to work hard as well as the determination to make a living.
Her small business was made possible by a micro credit in the amount of 1,000 birr (about 46 euros or 69 dollars) that she received five years ago. She used it to open a bar in a little hut. The proximity of the bar to a bus stop that was on a main road connecting the town with outlying villages paid off for the young mother.
"After one year I paid back my credit and took out a new one for 2,000 birr," she explained proudly.
At the time a new technical innovation was coming to thousands of homes in Rema: A solar energy foundation joined forces with a humanitarian foundation that was carrying out a number of development projects in the region. They selected the town to host a pilot project involving solar energy.
The solar panels, which had to be positioned on the roofs of more than 1,000 homes, fundamentally changed the lives of the people. Children no longer had to do their homework in the flickering light of kerosene lamps. And Ambaye had more customers in her bar since she was able to install a television and video recorder for entertainment.
The new credit provided the entrepreneur a second economic leg to stand on. She used it to start production on the wood-sparing ovens. Carefully stacking the oven parts in her workshop, she said she makes a profit of 4 to 5 birr per oven. She makes about 200 units per year. She and her husband often make the pieces at night. They are then baked and assembled into ovens.
"Thanks to the solar-powered lamps, we can also work at night," she said. The humanitarian foundation buys the ovens for distribution in the nearby villages, giving her a stable buyer. She would like to increase production. She also is making plans to improve her bar as soon as she has paid off the current micro credit.
"I would like to offer more to eat than just flat bread with sauce," she said. She has one employee in the bar and her 13-year-old daughter also chips in. However, Ambaye insists she first does her homework. She wants her children to have better chances through education, which she and her husband never had.
Owning her own business also is an investment in her children's future. This is important because her husband leases the fields he farms so there is no land for the children to inherit.
