Kenyan Women's Entrepreneurial Land Project

Upendo Kabiria is a women's group in Nairobi, Kenya. These 10 female entrepreneurs have been saving, borrowing and planning together for two years, as members of the mobile money bank Musoni . They live in a slum, where they each have families with children and run their micro-businesses.

The group takes out small loans from Musoni to help grow their businesses, pay their children's school fees and cover emergency needs when necessary. Their loans range from about $30 to $1,000 each. The group has an excellent repayment rate and has stuck together through thick and thin, meeting weekly for an hour (in a room they rent for the purpose at 10 cents/person/hour) and sometimes having to cover one another's loan payments.

About a year ago, Upendo Kabiria began saving for a dream project: to jointly purchase a 50 meter x 100 meter plot of land on which to build and start a rental business (renting out space for living and business purposes). Real estate is a promising investment in Kenya and would provide a steady income for them and their families for years to come, while also building long-term value. The group has already collectively saved around $1,000 toward their goal of a $10,000 plot (which I verified and appears a reasonable/accurate price for such real estate). They also qualify for an affordable Musoni loan to cover up to $5,000 of the purchase price. They need $4,000 more. Once they have the land, they will be able to gradually save toward construction costs and can access a construction loan through a Musoni partnership providing support for such projects. This group land ownership and rental model has a successful track record in Kenya.

I don't usually do this sort of thing. I work in "sustainable development" and "social enterprise," and I got an MBA for the express purpose of finding self-sustaining, business-oriented solutions to empowering economically poor people in the developing world. Sustainable finance is at the heart of what I have been doing for more than a decade, and I think it is one key to poverty eradication. Then again, recent studies have shown that simply handing out cash to poor people can be as effective as all these complex economic and social empowerment programs my colleagues and I have been developing, implementing and evaluating for years. Plus, it can be so much more satisfying to get to see the application of economic empowerment in progress, up close and personal.

Here we have a group of women who have managed to sustain themselves and their families under seriously challenging circumstances for years. And not only that, but they have also built some joint savings and still have the energy to dream big about practical ways to improve their families' resilience.

I am collecting donations for their group. I have a connection with the Musoni agent with whom they bank. He pointed out to them that they did not need to collect the funds with Musoni and could choose how they did this. They voted to go through Musoni. He explained to me that Musoni disburses the funds directly to the target's account (in this case the as-of-yet unidentified landowner), and that no cash exchanges hands. The group will thus not receive cash directly. Although honestly, in the end, if this group of women did receive $2,000 (or $5,000!) in cash, I would sleep well at night. I am in contact with the group, plan to visit them again, and have a local friend who has volunteered to pay them visits to check in on a regular basis.

Look at their businesses. Look at their joy. Look at their plans. We are all on this planet for a short time, together at this one moment and not for long. I have so much to be thankful for. I want to help these women make their dream happen. Join me in giving this a shot?