Davis Nshipo runs a restaurant located in the biggest market place in Mongu, called the central market. He recounts that he started the business at his own home. With now eight employees, his restaurant has shown significant growth over the years. It all started when Mr. Nshipo resigned from his day-job at a local restaurant due to frustration with doing the same things in life. His vast experience of working for various restaurants of high acclaim in the Copperbelt region of the country, inspired him in starting his business. He started baking a few snacks like samoosas and pies at his own home in 2006. In due course he started expanding so much so that one time in 2008, he was spotted by a local NGO. In most of their workshops, he was offered the tenders of supplying the participants with meals which helped him to expand even more. He then found a shop for rent to run his restaurant from in the central market of Mongu town. Sadly, some employees at the local NGO colluded together and sought to swindle him out of the money allocated for his services. His business was greatly shaken following those unfortunate happenings. The restaurant started performing poorly and sales dwindled significantly. At that time closing down seemed inevitable as the business was really on its knees with average sales per day of $20. But times changed when Mr. Nshipo heard of CEMFIN through a friend. Davis Nshipo was given a small loan to help him revamp his business. As has always been CEMFIN’s custom, training cutting across spiritual and entrepreneurial matters was offered besides the disbursement of the loan. The business started gaining momentum as he continued to faithfully repay the loan at the set times. He has so far been a client of CEMFIN for almost three years and has received three loans so far, which he has continued to repay promptly. The training program and prayers offered by CEMFIN has been very helpful to him in his business, he observes himself. The major obstacle for his business has been and continues to be stiff competition. The area he trades from is one which has many restaurants because of the location of the bus terminal. To survive one has to ensure that they become innovative by being quick at understanding their clients’ needs and then responding to them. One time Mr. Nshipo discovered that most people did not like food with a lot of spices. Knowing that, he made changes to his menu. He says that from the time that decision was made, there had been a great improvement in the number of clients served per day. Another way that Mr. Nshipo has been innovative has been to increase the business operating hours to cater for customers who arrive late in the district by buses. Davis often surprises his customers by adding what he calls ‘complementaries’ to his menu. He does so by adding things such as ‘munkoyo’ (a traditional beverage made out of corn), fruit salads and so on for free. With this and other initiatives inspired from the training at CEMFIN he has been able to attract a lot of loyal customers. Davis has five children, of which three are living with him at his home in Mongu. In addition to his five children Davis also keeps three dependants. He says that he cannot imagine how life would have been if he had to provide for his family on the low salary that he used to earn at his old job. He feels proud that he made the decision to resign and start his business, which has enabled him to send his children to better schools. He thanks God for enlightening him and giving him courage to make the decision he made. Davis Nshipo participates in church programs through the tithes and offerings he pays. Besides this, each time the church holds a function, he is usually called upon to be what they call the ‘catering convener’ (someone in charge of catering). Mr. Nshipo’s business has big potential to grow into one of the leading restaurants in the town. His goal is to find land for his business and buy modern equipment for his kitchen so as to increase or improve on the efficiency of his business. By so doing he feels he will be able to take his children and dependants to better schools so that they may have access to quality education. He also feels that it will enhance his financial participation in church programs and also in the community at large.