Julie goes from buying fish to buying a bus

MOTHER-of-seven Julie Joachim, who has been engaging in informal business, is now a proud owner of a 15-seater bus.
This was made possible after she obtained a loan from the National Development Bank (NDB) to buy it.
From Wosera-Gawi, East Sepik, Joachim had been an informal vendor at the Wewak town market for years.
“My husband works with the Department of Works and we reside in Wewak,” she explained.
She did not complete her formal education so could not find any formal employment to help her husband provide for their family.
“So I engaged myself in informal sector businesses and in 2004, I decided to buy fish from the women of the Sepik River who come into town with baskets of smoked fish.”
She heard about the People’s Micro Bank (PMB) savings products from some friends – a subsidiary of the NDB.
Joachim opened an account at the bank’s Wewak branch with K20 and started saving at least K200 a week.
Between 2004 and 2019, she saved about K20,000.
That was when she decided to venture into something bigger.
The bank advised her that she needed to have a 30 per cent equity for the bank to assist with a loan.
Her husband Morris gave her K15,000 and it took them about a month to come up with a business proposal and three days to get
their business name registered with the Investment Promotion Authority.
“We submitted the loan application in June 2019 with an invoice from Ela Motors for a 15-seater bus,” Morris said.
“The bank approved our application after six months and the bus arrived in Wewak on last Dec 31.”
During his visit to Maprik to open the bank’s new building last Thursday, Prime Minister James Marape and NDB acting managing director Aaron Underdown handed the keys to the 15-seater bus to Julie and Morris.