Today Charlie sold 5,000 UGX in airtime during the one hour I sat with him waiting for our time to go visit his home. He gets 5% of that as income. That means Charlie earned 250 UGX in one hour…not even enough for a penny gumball. The economy isn’t the only thing that’s keeping Charlie from prospering. The increasing use of the internet and other electronic tools means people don’t need scratch off airtime cards like they used to.
I challenged Charlie to think about how he would expand his airtime business with complementary products or services. He immediately suggested MTN Mobile Money (the way we send money to people across the country via phone service), selling phones, and having an actual shop nearby rather than the street corner.
I asked Charlie why he’d never done these things and the answer, no surprise, was that he didn’t have the capital required to do so. The Mobile Money program requires something akin to franchise fees that he just can’t afford, not to mention the capital needed for rent, phones, and other materials.
Wouldn’t it be awesome to use money from every sponsored doll over 100 to help Charlie prepare for the inevitable change in his business? Yep, I teach that God is abundant and has no end to his wealth and I BELIEVE IT.