Victoria Sabula is the CEO of AECF, a development institution which supports rural and underserved communities in Africa through enterprise. She believes lasting change begins by restoring trust, dignity, and hope.
Introduction
In the arid lands of Somaliland, Leila leads her team in installing solar panels, giving businesses and households in the area access to reliable, clean energy for the first time. In northeastern Nigeria, Zainab plants drought-resistant crops such as rice and maize, determined to harvest despite the encroaching desert. In Central Equatoria, South Sudan, groups of women collect and sell shea nuts through structured markets, using their income to provide a healthier diet for their families and upgrade their homes.
These stories are not isolated examples. Across Sub-Saharan Africa in communities grappling with years of conflict, climate change, and economic hardship, some people simply keep going – because they believe that through work, they can build a better future.
This is hope in action.
Hope alone is not enough
‘Fragility’ can be described as a state where a country or region lacks the capacity to effectively address its challenges and is highly vulnerable to shocks. It is a complex issue characterised by instability, weak institutions, poor infrastructure, and limited ability to deliver and access basic services.
Yet overcoming fragility demands more than financial and physical resources. It calls for a long-term view and a commitment to build an environment that enables, supports (and rewards!) those who keep putting their hope into action, day after day.
Hope is the spark. But without opportunity, hope fades.
Opportunity fuels hope
In fragile communities, years of broken promises and unmet needs have eroded belief, making them sceptical of new interventions. While a few persist in cautious optimism, most have quietly resigned themselves to ‘this is just the way things are.’ This erosion of hope doesn’t just affect morale – it stifles progress across the region. It limits engagement in economic activities, weakens social cohesion, and hinders long-term planning. Without hope, even the most well-designed development initiatives will fall flat, and even the most well-funded business opportunities will fail to deliver results.
But when hope encounters opportunity, it enables agency and becomes a driver of change. Backed by finance, training, practical skills, and meaningful access to markets, it translates into concrete decisions and deliberate steps toward improving lives. As Susan Situma, Director of Programs at AECF states, “I’ve seen hope in the eyes of people the world had forgotten – women who had lost everything. It’s a quiet spark, sometimes barely there. But when met with real opportunity, that is the moment transformation really begins.”
Phases of transformation
In fragile contexts, positive transformation does not happen all at once. It slowly unfolds over five phases, each shaped by the quiet presence of entrepreneurial hope and the steady delivery of support.
Phase 1: Start with a willingness to try
Transformation begins with belief. Not imposed belief, but a personal conviction that things can change. That this time will be different. That a harvest can yield more than subsistence. That a business idea is worth pursuing.
Often, this belief reveals itself when early-stage capital becomes available – when finance reaches places long excluded from formal systems, and individuals feel seen, not just counted.
For example, through the AECF Investing in Women project in South Sudan, farmers received training and access to agricultural inputs. They didn’t just hope for better yields – they worked hard, and smart. They tested and applied new techniques, and shared knowledge with one another. One farmer even expanded her sorghum plot and successfully cultivated vegetables using climate-smart practices learned during the project.
Phase 2: Build trust
Trust grows when commitments are honoured, when information is transparent, and when support is context-aware. In this phase, financing mechanisms (such as grants, working capital, or guarantees) fill market gaps and builds the confidence of entrepreneurs. Offering reliable products and services that meet market needs restores the confidence of consumers.
I have seen this firsthand in Somaliland, where SolarLand Africa has earned local trust by providing affordable and consistent microgrid power. This means that people in the community no longer have to rely on kerosene lamps. Children can now study at night, shops can stay open late – enabling many more to plan for their own futures with more confidence.
This phase is delicate, however, and trust built too quickly or built on false promises is easily lost.
Phase 3: Increase engagement
With belief and trust in place, individuals and communities begin to engage more freely and purposefully. Farmers experiment with new practices. Entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Women step into leadership roles. The youth come up with new solutions to local challenges.
In this phase, technical guidance grounded in local realities and tailored to the particular stage of business growth can make a massive difference in moving from hesitant trial to committed action. For example, one women’s cooperative in Terekeka, South Sudan that produces shea butter started converting by-products into cooking briquettes after sustainability training. Their engagement no longer stopped at income generation – it went beyond to reduce reliance on firewood, and encouraged others to adopt a similar approach.
Phase 4: Build momentum
As capabilities deepen and early successes take root, businesses start to stabilise and wider supporting infrastructure start to emerge. Opportunities open up to reach new markets, form new partnerships, or grow operations – which means that raising follow-on capital and having access to critical skills become essential. Support that facilitates investor readiness (through matchmaking, negotiation, and capital strategy) can help ensure that transformation does not stall during this important phase.
Phase 5: Widen the impact
Finally, transformation endures. Not because fragility disappears, but because the ground is steadier. Confidence begins to replace uncertainty. Entrepreneurs start to make decision with a longer timeframe in mind. The availability of knowledge about market dynamics, business models, and shifting industry trends enable people to plan proactively and not just react.
And as ecosystems become more inclusive, the effects of transformation ripple outward – from household to community, from business to market system.
Conclusion
Transformation in fragile and marginalised communities is rarely immediate or dramatic. It unfolds slowly – through a willingness to believe, trust, engage, and endure. Hope plays a role in every phase. Because that is the reason people plant, build, invest, and teach. The reason they wake each day and keep doing the work, despite repeated disappointments or overwhelming odds. As Hebrews 11:1 reminds us, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” As people of faith, we are called to act, build, and believe even without certainty. Keep trusting God to work through your hands and your heart.
