A small number of mothers in the village gathered to learn how to make liquid cleaning soap. They began with just six women but the group has grown to about 11. They meet twice a week to discuss how the business is going and to learn English. They came to be known as The Soap Ladies.
The Ladies’ primary product is liquid cleaning soap, for which ingredients are easy to obtain. They have been selling the soap in the village but the market there is fairly small. That was before the COVID pandemic hit. The timing appears to have been rather fortuitous as the Tanzanian government has encouraged frequent hand-washing to battle the Corona virus. Sales are strong for the new enterprise.
The Ladies were soon offered another opportunity: making guest-sized specialty soap bars for guests at lodges. Soaps made with goat’s milk, essential oils, and other handcrafted soaps scented with native plants are quite popular elsewhere in Tanzania and Zanzibar. Larger bars could be offered in gift shops.
The market for the handcrafted soaps has not yet materialized because of the pandemic but the ladies want to continue working together. They have presented other product ideas such as making school uniforms in Tloma instead of having them made in Karatu, a town a few miles away.
Our Involvement
Tloma Giving contacted four of the lodges in the area. All are interested in using the soaps if reliable quality and quantity could be established. We also met with two teachers in Karatu who know how to make the bar soap and are willing to demonstrate the process to the ladies.
The next opportunity the women identified was mask making. Generous Tloma Giving donors provided fabric, supplies, and training for the women to get started and meet the need for masks in the community. A new sewing machine will also be donated as soon as a shared space can be found for the women to work together.
As a result of their determination and ingenuity, we have incorporated The Soap Ladies into a larger plan involving the well. If a suitable site for the well can be found near the school, the pumping station will be housed in or next to a larger structure. The structure will be large enough to provide a workspace for the ladies, and storage for materials and finished product. It will be part of the Tloma Business Development Center.
We will talk to the safari companies that bring visitors to the school and ask that they include a stop at the shop where the ladies will be working. All of the lodges have also indicated they would like to support economic development in the village and would be interested in encouraging their guests to visit The Soap Ladies’ production area and shop once it is established to encourage sales and donations. Visitor purchases will provide an additional source of income for the Ladies. In turn, the Ladies can train others in the village to make soap and other products.