Many Low income groups particularly women in Kitwe cannot access traditional bank loans. Due to high cost of capital to start or improve their small enterprises, they remain trapped in day-to-day survival during an unexpected financial crisis. Women continue to have less access to economic opportunities.
Sanshako, a PLAEP project launched in 2016, supports low-income women in underserved communities by connecting smallholder farmers to formal retail markets through agribusiness value chains. It processes and packages cassava, millet and groundnuts, growing from distributing in 9 stores in 2019 to 60 stores countrywide in 2025. PLAEP purchases over 70 tonnes of produce annually from over 500 smallholder farmers. In recent years, demand for some of these healthy grains is increasing in Zambia, as they are gluten free, have high content of fiber and protein and antioxidants and excellent for preventing and managing health conditions like diabetes.