Partners Worldwide Stories

Undertaker Living A Dream

L. Mathews

Upon receiving a loan from Investments for Africa (IFA), Partners Worldwide affiliate in South Africa, Mr. L Matthews started a small Funeral Undertaker business. He bought a hearse, and eventually began to utilize his network to grow his business.

As he began to build a network of individuals and companies that supported him and his trade, he started to see his business flourish. Now he has a permanent contact for refrigeration space at a reasonable price; a contact with a security company in town to do all the funerals of the employees that pass away; and another contact from a different town who does contract work for him when needed, and vise versa.
On average he has two to three funerals a week, but some weeks he has to scramble to fit in up to seven a week.

One of the goals of IFA is to see that businesses grow. In the case of Matthews Funeral Undertaker this is truly what is happening. It grew from a man with a dream to serve— without knowledge or infrastructure—to what it is today. At first he had to do everything on his own; now he employs four men to assist him.

This is the success of the IFA program: Mr. Matthews has fulfilled his dream as a small business owner; he supports his family; and has created new jobs.

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