Sarah, a married mother of three, was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1979. Life in her birth country was good and like many, was leading a normal life. Tribalist injustices surfaced in her country and life took a sour turn for the worst. Internally displaced with her family, life started being difficult with no money and no food to eat. For this reason, Sarah and her family fled the country to sought refuge in South Africa in August 2008. It was right at the plight of widespread xenophobic attacks in South Africa, that Sarah started living in Alberton, Johannesburg. Unable to speak English or find a job, life was hard for her and her family. Sarah together with her mother and sister, started a clothing/fashion design business called Anne Global Fashion Design.

Sarah, her mother and sister joined the Hand in Hand Livelihood project for refugees in July 2017. All three of them were trained on the self-employment modules on business and entrepreneurship.  Among the three, Sarah is the one who applied for the Hand in Hand loan which was approved in April 2018. The loan was used to purchase a brand new domestic embroidery machine for their business. This machine will increase revenue sales and save them time and money for doing their embroidery in Johannesburg CBD.

Attending training under the Livelihood project was the start of their success. The entrepreneurship training has given them an knowledge of how to assess the market and how to better manage their funds through strict budgeting. For example, before imparting business knowledge to them in our trainings, they explained how they would charge prices based on customers' appearances. They reiterated they now charge standard prices for everyone and how this has helped them track profits adequately.