Gender Equality Kenya Project #11900

Invest in Small Businesses for Girls in Kenya

by Raising Futures Kenya

Project Report | Apr 28, 2014
Peninah's Success

By Kirsty | Fundraising and Communications Officer

Peninah in her shop

Last week, visitors from the UK arrived to check out our work in Kenya. They are my neighbours back in Scotland and have been supporting Vision Africa for a number of years so it is great to have the opportunity to show them first hand the impact of our work.

Within hours of landing in Nairobi we had started them on their tour of projects. One of the first places they visited was Seed of Hope where they met some Fashion Design students and new graduates who are now resident in the Dhamira Hub.

To show them the kind of future that these graduates can look forward to, I took our guests to visit Peninah who graduated in 2009.

My memories of Peninah are of a very quiet shy girl. In fact, I’ve had to dig back in our records to find out why she joined Seed of Hope in 2008 because she didn’t talk much to us back in those days. Peninah comes from an area near a market where her mother worked. Her father was a casual labourer and between them her parents didn’t earn very much. Having already funded Peninah’s sister to go to secondary school, there was no money left to allow Peninah to continue with her education when she finished primary school.

At 14 years of age, Peninah enrolled at Nairobi Seed of Hope and was a very serious student for her two years of studies. After graduating in November 2009, she found employment and worked for two years. At that point, her mother encouraged her to start her own business which she did with a friend. They opened up a small shop but as anyone who has their own business knows, it takes a lot of dedication and hard work to make it succeed. Peninah’s friend got tired of trying to overcome the difficulties and suggested they close the business but Peninah decided to keep struggling on her own.

Fast forward to last week and I hardly recognised the confident young lady who came out to greet our visitors and welcome them to her business. Peninah shared with them the difficulties she had faced and how she had overcome the challenges. She now has many customers and is looking to expand the shop that she is in. Rather than close the business when she got pregnant, she found someone to share the shop for a few months to allow her to go on maternity leave. She then went back to work and now wants to open a bigger shop so that she can continue to share the space with the person who covered for her. Her teacher who taught her these business skills would be proud of her!

Through Seed of Hope, Peninah was given and interest free loan from Kiva, This allowed her to buy fabrics to build up her business. She repaid that and got another loan to grown the business again. She is now hoping for a third load which will enable her to buy another machine and employ someone to work in the business with her.

As Peninah showed us some of the clothes that she was working on it was easy to see that she enjoys what she is doing. She also appreciates where she has come from as she says that having trained at Seed of Hope she is no longer dependent on her mother. In fact she supports herself and her child and is also able to help her mother. The pride in her face as she told us this is what makes all our efforts worthwhile.

Thanks to your support through GlobalGiving more Seed of Hope graduates have the opportunity to be successful business owners like Peninah. Your contributions have allowed graduates to set up their own businesses and start their journey to self-reliance.

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Dec 9, 2013
Class of 2013

By Kirsty | Project Leader

Phoebe and Roselyn graduate

Seed of Hope's Class of 2013 has now graduated. There were colourful ceremonies at our four centres and it was wonderful to see how much the event meant not just to the graduates but to their families' as well. Parents, guardians and siblings were keen to celebrate the occasion and be photographed with the graduates as they received their certificates,

Now it is time for the graduates to move on to the next stage of their lives and face the realities of the world. Gitau is a teacher in Enterprise studies at the Nairobi centre and helps to oversee the set up of Roots businesses at all four centres. He gave us this report:

"The Seed of Hope policy for students after the two years course is to either join a Roots business or get employed in their field of expertise. After the 2013 graduation, 9 small businesses will be set up for girls who have completed the programme of training.

Three months before graduation each group was required to come up with a business plan that will equip them for starting their business. The plan uses the principle of the ladder. That is starting with the first workable goal going up. Within the plan Seed of hope gives the groups machines, three months rent and one year trading license as a start up capital.

In each graduation there were Government leaders, Vision Africa staff, donors, community leaders, Seed of hope board members, parents and teachers who gave the graduates words of encouragements. Here are some of the quotes.

Mr. Elisha from the BOO that sponsors Seed of hope Nyamache. He told the graduates that if they want to succeed in business self discipline has to be there, also they need to believe in themselves and say inside their heart that if A can do it why not B.
Mrs Deborah Kimathi, Vision Africa Field Director, told them that in order for them to succeed they have to start small and move up one step at a time. She also talked to them about mastered seed or any other seed and the process it goes through until it becomes a very big tree.
Madam Mwikali the Seed of Hope Chairlady told the graduates that doing business needs somebody with self confidence she gave an example of Mariam Mohamed a graduate who gave her speech with a lot of confidence.
Teacher Margaret read for them a verse from the bible that says that God has good plans for each and every one of us and therefore they should not fear because in everything they do God will always be there.
A county representative while giving them a word of encouragement demonstrated with her own dress the kind fashion is in the market. She said she was very impressed by the graduates’ work.
A community leader said she was so much impressed and happy because some of the girl who completed the course where from her area. She promised to bring more needy children."

The girls that we work with face a variety of challenges and Teacher Gitau and his colleagues are always on hand to support and advise them as they make the transition from student to employee or business owner. Seed of Hope is sensitive to the girls' circumstances and allows for flexibility, As an example of this, we have an update to our last post on the business that was being set up by Phoebe, Salome and Roselyn.

Salome's circumstances changed and she had to leave Nairobi to live with her sister in their rural home. This changed the dynamics of their business plan. Then Phoebe and Roselyn were offered places in Seed of Hope's new Incubation Hub which will be set up early next year. The Hub will give additional support to promising graduates as they set up their businesses. Located on site at Seed of Hope, the Hub will offer mentoring, specialised training and work experience for residents. While Roselyn felt that Hub membership is the best option for her, Phoebe decided she wanted to start out on her own immediately. So plans are afoot to ensure that the girls get the support they require to ensure that they all succeed.

Thank you for the support that YOU have given our girls through GlobalGiving. Your contributions have made it possible for us to ensure that every student graduating in 2013 and wishing to join the Roots programme has the opportunity to do so.

Graduates in Kitui

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Aug 6, 2013
Perfect Dressmaking

By Kirsty | Project Leader

Phoebe Designing Graduation Outfit

Graduation season is fast approaching for our four Seed of Hope centres. Although they are officially due to close at the end of this week for holidays, many of the second year students will be preparing for their Grade 2 Directorate of Industrial Training exams. After that, there is the final project to complete and then after graduation it will be time to set up their small businesses.

We thought it would be interesting to follow some of the students on this journey as they prepare to leave Seed of Hope and head out to start their own business.

Roselyn (18), Phoebe (18) and Salome (19) are second year students at our Nairobi centre. They are planning to open their business, “Perfect Dressmaking and Craft Shop”, in Kenyatta Market near Kibera. The girls were asked what difference they think the business will make to their lives. Salome was very quick to reply “It will help us be independent!” Phoebe and Roselyn are both looking forward to being able to help themselves and their families. They have younger siblings and would like to help ensure they get a good education.

The girls feel that they have learned a lot at Seed of Hope which will help them with their business. As well as the practical dressmaking and craft skills, they say their business skills will also help. “We’ve learned about market research, how to market our business, how to keep records and how to have a good relationship with customers. Our teachers are really encouraging us and so are our parents.”

Over the next few weeks, the second year students will be working on the designs for their final project. This involves designing and creating an outfit for their graduation ceremony. This year, the Nairobi students have been able to do a lot of research working with our volunteer, Esther, who is visiting from the UK. An exciting partnership with the ASOS Foundation means that the students have had access to iPads with internet access so Esther has been teaching them how to look up various fashion websites and then use the inspiration to create their own unique designs. They have also been looking at fashion magazines and Salome says the inspiration for her dress came from an actress on a Mexican soap opera she has been watching!

We asked Roselyn, Phoebe and Salome if they had any message for the people who will be supporting them and providing some of the capital to start up their small businesses. They said “Thank you for your support and we promise to be good girls and work hard in our business. May God bless you.” They are very excited about opening their business and say that in the future “it will grow if we put a lot of effort in.”

We look forward to following these girls through their graduation and on to the next phase of their journey towards independence.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this project via GlobalGiving. Thanks to you Phoebe, Roselyn, Salome and many more graduates from Seed of Hope face a brighter future.

For the latest news from Seed of Hope and our other projects, join us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @VisionAfrica.

Phoebe, Roselyn and Salome

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