Help us empower 100 women entrepreneurs in Kenya
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11.525 CHF gesammelt, Spendenziel: 22,5 Tsd. CHF
64 Spenden
Across Sub-Saharan Africa, women own or run roughly a third of the region's 44 million small businesses, but they face a staggering USD 42 billion funding gap compared to their male counterparts. This is not just unfair, it's a missed opportunity: women reinvest around 90% of their income into education, health, and their communities. When a woman's business grows, everyone around her benefits.
That's why Code Blossom, a Swiss non-profit providing free tech education to women & refugees in developing countries, is launching a new program in Kenya: Digital & AI Skills for Women Running Small Businesses.
In September 2026 we ran our first workshops on the ground, in Isiolo and Marsabit, hosted with our Kenyan partner Smart Regional Consultants. 176 women came over four days: poultry farmers, grocery stall holders, salon owners, goat farmers. In Isiolo, 25 women came on the first day and 61 on the second, after word spread overnight. In Marsabit we had to cap attendance because the catering budget ran out. In both counties more women wanted a seat than we could seat and feed.
Those workshops were four-hour introductions. They proved the demand and sharpened the curriculum. What this campaign funds is the next step: a three-month program we run ourselves, for 100 women in four cohorts of 25, starting January 2027.
With your donations, you can empower female entrepreneurs to professionalize and grow their businesses. We will empower them to:
- Register their business
- Learn basic digital tools effectively to run their business (email, calendar, Excel for budget planning, etc.)
- Use social media to promote their business
- Monitor & scale their business
- Use AI to run their business more effectively
- Master social skills to communicate, collaborate and negotiate
- Get access to funding
The raised funds will be allocated as follows, roughly 40% to preparation and 60% to running the program itself. None of it goes to salaries for us as founders. We work on Code Blossom voluntarily, and every paid role in this program is a local one:
- Curriculum and research (15%): adapting the content to the real daily challenges of running a small business in Kenya, and screening applicants
- Pilot sessions (15%): venue costs, travel stipends and materials for the workshops that test and refine the program before each cohort
- Legal and professional support (10%): the lawyers and advisors who help participants formally register their businesses
- Local trainers and mentors (30%): paying the Kenyan instructors who deliver the sessions, including the social media and AI training
- Participant support (15%): data bundles, connectivity and travel, so that cost is never the reason a woman has to drop out
- Coordination and follow-up (15%): Code Blossom Kenya's work on the ground, and tracking how the businesses do after the program ends
With your donations, you help us get this program off the ground: the curriculum we have just revised, the local partnerships now in place, and the first cohorts themselves. Our local sister organization, Code Blossom Kenya, ensures the program is rooted in the community and continues to have impact long after it ends.
As Marlene, a Code Blossom student from Namibia, puts it: "Code Blossom is more than an education program, it's a place where people grow together. The support I've received continues to shape both my career and the way I approach life."
CHF 225 funds one woman's place in the program. We want to fund 100 places.
Please donate, and share this campaign with anyone who believes in the power of women.
You can get a donation receipt for tax exemption upon request by reaching out to Marion.
See here our project description.
Thank you for blossoming with us.
