Mapambano

Mapambano is a group of ten dedicated women from Bangata, a rural area in the hills surrounding Arusha.

The women are all close neighbours and friends who decided to come together to save money jointly and support each other through personal and professional challenges. As many of the women are small business owners, their weekly meetings offered an opportunity to share ideas for growing their ventures and developing themselves professionally. 

The women joined the Wanawake Tunaweza Tanzania programme in 2025, hoping to explore new business opportunities, strengthen their entrepreneurial skills and improve their financial understanding in areas such as bookkeeping, responsible credit management and building a sustainable small business.

The Mapambano women have since started a local neighbourhood business buying and selling rice and soap. With our coaching support, they are exploring the option of making the soap themselves, as well as developing their product range and marketing strategy to attract different customer groups. 

The group is enjoying working with their WTT coach, taking part in role plays on useful topics ranging from product promotion to dealing with difficult customers. The success of this approach means that we are now compiling these examples so that our other coaches and groups can use them too.