“I never thought a small backyard could change my life”

For Delfina Sebastiao, 24, life before Young Africa’s Women in Business programme was a daily struggle. Living with her mother, she often found it difficult to meet even basic needs.

“Life was heavy,” Delfina recalls. “I wanted to help my mother, but I barely managed. Some days, even basic needs felt out of reach.”

In 2024, Delfina joined Young Africa’s Women in Business programme, an initiative that provides training in entrepreneurship and financial literacy, starter kits, and peer support through savings and lending groups.

“At the end of the programme, I received a starter kit,” she says. Delfina planted vegetables in her mother’s backyard. What started small quickly grew, and she began selling produce in her community and at the local market.

“I even supply some of my fellow young women in the programme who run stalls of their own,” Delfina explains. She also joined an ISAL group, a collective savings and lending system, with other women from the programme. Together, they save money and reinvest in their businesses.

“Now, I can take care of my mother, and I’m saving to go back to school,” she says. “What used to feel impossible is now real. I’m not just surviving anymore. I’m building something.”

Delfina’s story is a vivid example of how targeted support, practical tools, and peer networks can transform both small businesses and the lives of women in Mozambique.