Fatuma Macho grew up on Mafia Island, one of the larger islands along the coastline of Tanzania. After quitting school at a young age, she could barely make ends meet selling fish. Thanks to her perseverance and innovative skills, combined with the opportunity to join a community banking group, she now has a thriving business and is a member of the Whale Shark Tour Operators Network of Tanzania.
Please tell us how it all started.
I had to drop out of secondary school because my parents could not afford it anymore. To support my family, I started selling fried fish on the streets. I bought the fish from local fishermen. But I did not earn much and my partner was often gone for months at a time, so I had to stay with my mother to survive. Also when I became a mother myself. In the years that followed, not much changed in my financial situation and I was concerned about how I would be able to get my two children through school.
In 2013, my friend Mariam introduced me to the Village Community Banks (VICOBA) group, a community microfinance group in Tanzania. Thanks to a loan, I was able to save some money to invest it in my small business. It enabled me to buy and weigh my fish at TANPESCA, a famous fish processing and export factory located on Mafia Island and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest city. An important step for my business, as I no longer needed a middleman to sell my product.
VICOBA continued to grow, and my business did as well. Later on, other loans helped me to invest in materials, such as fishing nets, and means of transportation. The journey I started in 2013 enabled me to send my children to school and give them a nice home, which makes me very happy.
“Small business owners like me are able to contribute to further local development and biodiversity conservation at the same time.”
What does the ocean mean to you?
Like other women and men who are part of the VICOBA groups, I am aware that it is very important to protect the ocean and its inhabitants. We know that we need a healthy ocean for our businesses to thrive. If there are not enough fish, there is no business.
Small business owners like me are able to contribute to further local development and biodiversity conservation at the same time. Together, we have developed valuable skills and we have a large network. We are agents for local development and we are highly committed to combining the improvement of our livelihoods with conserving the ocean.
I am a member of the Whale Shark Tour Operators Network of Tanzania, a network on Mafia Island that serves as a platform to support conservation and livelihood initiatives. We organise beach cleanups, work on waste management on the island and improve the habitat for whale sharks to help them grow and reproduce. In this project, we work together with WWF-Tanzania.
“Whale sharks are friends to fishermen and -women. We should include them in the decisions that contribute to protecting this unique species.”
Whale sharks are friends to the fishermen and -women. They know the history of whale sharks and they see them in their daily lives. We should include fishers in the decisions that contribute to protecting this unique species. Their engagement will provide opportunities to further align fishing and whale shark tourist activities in a sustainable way.
This story is based on an article written by Gaudensia Kalabamu, Modesta Medard and January Ndagala (WWF-Tanzania).
Fatuma Macho grew up on Mafia Island in Tanzania. After quitting school at a young age, she could barely make ends meet selling fish. Thanks to her perseverance and innovative skills, combined with the opportunity to join a community banking group, she now has a thriving business and protects whale sharks.