Women into Enterprise

Who does it help?

Women in the some of the poorest communities in rural Kenya. Specifically, the mothers and grandmothers of the girls in our partner primary schools.

What does it involve?

• Table banking training and support for women.
• Small individual loans for women.
• Group agribusiness loans for groups of women.
• Income generated by the loan is used to ensure the school attendance of the group’s female dependants.
• Income will be used to ensure the named girls stay in school and have all the necessary school equipment and uniform items they need.
•  After the end of the first full round of loans has been completed and repayments made, new women join the group and it becomes a revolving fund – super sustainable!

Why did we decide to do this?

Many women in Ndhiwa have no financial skills, no disposable income or control over any household income.

We don’t want to have to provide scholarships beyond the end of 2017, it’s not sustainable. This way, the community is more self-sufficient and women can send their girls to school themselves!

We want the mothers and grandmothers in Ndhiwa to be able to send their daughters to school using their own income and have surplus to reinvest tor raise the standard of living of the whole family.

By providing small loans and business training for women in the community, we are securing not only their future, but their future generations too! Not only this, but women who have disposable income are much more likely to invest it to support the family than men are. Girls and women spend 90% of their earned income on their families, while men spend only 30-40% (UNAC, 2012).