Growing a Business After Fleeing Conflict in Mozambique

Maiasa Nahoda Abdala, 30, from northern Mozambique, was forced to flee her home in 2020. Fighting between the government and Islamic insurgents resulted in the death of her father and separation from her sister, leaving her as the sole provider for her household.

After escaping the conflict and finally settling in a province to the south, a friend offered her a plot of barren land to start farming. “After fleeing from the north my brother and I decided to stay in Nacala and try our luck in farming,” she recalls. "If I just sit around waiting for help, I'm going to suffer and find it hard to feed my children.” 

Her first crop was maize, but after joining an iDE program where she learned about resilient agriculture techniques, she and her brother cultivated different vegetables using high quality seeds and the new skills they learned

Under the PROMARE project, funded by the Norwegian Embassy, iDE is providing support to more than 31,500 people who have been impacted by the conflict in Mozambique’s north. Through interventions including supply fairs, farmer field schools, technology and learning centers, and support for small business people, iDE is supporting the community to build a more resilient market system to power local farmers to respond to shocks and stressors. 

A large body of evidence also shows that when women are supported, they invest in their children's health and education, and provide vital resources like food, water, and energy to a home. That’s why iDE launched its ten-year strategy aimed at powering 1 million women entrepreneurs to foster prosperity in their communities for 100 million people.

Today, 80 percent of Mozambique’s labor force works in the agricultural sector, contributing to more than a quarter of the country's GDP, yet 54 percent of local people can’t afford a nutritious diet. iDE has been working in Mozambique since 2010, building resilient market ecosystems in rural communities across the country. iDE is now applying a gender lens to ensure inclusive participation in these market systems, because evidence shows that when you power women economically, you power communities and build prosperity for all.

Maiasa has picked up the skills she needed to become a successful farmer. After the training, she was later approached by iDE to become a Farm Business Advisor – showing other farmers how to use more productive farming techniques and supplies.

With her once barren plot filled with cash crops, she now makes a tidy profit selling her surplus and has used the capital to start a business selling capulanas – a type of sarong – to local women in her community.

“My husband and I also run a small goods store in our backyard. We travel to the main market in Nampula to buy essentials like soap and cooking oil, which we sell from the store.”

Written by Simone Matos Osman, communications and knowledge manager at iDE Mozambique. Stay connected with iDE Mozambique on our social channels here.