From Nairobi (where, so far, we have had our base) to Awendo in South Nyanza, up to Western Kenya, down to Mombasa, the Coastal region and into Maasailand, Mama Biashara sets most vulnerable, abused and marginalised of Kenyan women up in small, manageable, sustainable businesses.
An average of £15.00 per person is what it takes to set someone up as part of a group business.
Selling anything from donated bras to liquid soap, from fruit and veg to local fish, and from farming potatoes, maize and cabbage, to successful and well paid contracts in catering, tailoring and landscaping, our groups only go one way and that way is up.
Everything here has business potential : start a rabbit breeding business and you get a sideline in rabbit urine for fertiliser. Breed chicken and alongside eggs and meat you get to sell their poo as a powerful addition to cow food that increases milk yield. Prepare scrubland for farming and the trees and roots you remove are profitably sold as charcoal.
Most importantly, these businesses mean lasting independence and security for the women and their children.
Business is money and money is power
And that power means:
And they do.
The businesses grow exponentially because a businesswoman never returns her grant to Mama B.
Rather, the commitment is that, once a business is strong enough, it takes in someone else in need and brings them up the way Mama B brought them up. And, unlikely as it may seem in this world, that is exactly what happens. We call it The Pebble in the Pool effect.
And our pool is widening and deepening every minute.
Not bad for £15.00 a pop
