The class begins at nine with a notebook and ends at four with twenty litres of finished liquid soap standing in a drum by the door.
We chose soap deliberately. The raw materials are available in any trading centre, the capital required is small, and there is no household that does not need it. A graduate can begin selling within the week, often to the very neighbours who watched her learn.
What surprised us early on was who came. We had planned for widows. We got widows, their daughters, their mothers, and a row of children who sat through the whole day because there was nowhere else for them to be. So we adapted. The sessions now assume children in the room, and the older ones are handed a task rather than asked to sit still.
Every participant leaves with a starter kit — caustic soda, sulphonic acid, colourant, a stirring paddle and containers. A certificate alone does not buy stock.
We return at three months and again at six. Not every business survives. The ones that do tend to belong to women who found a second trader to work alongside, which is why we now teach in pairs wherever we can.