Home | UNICEF in Action | Highlights | Information Resources | Donations, Greeting Cards & Gifts | Press Centre | Voices of Youth | About UNICEF

Country experiences

Kenya: From housemaid to hotel-keeper

Emily, at age 26, is the sole supporter of her two sons in Baringo District in Kenya. Not educated beyond the third grade, Emily, then a housemaid, joined a UNICEF-supported credit scheme in 1992 and received her first credit of KSh1,500 (currently $1 = 54.8 Kenyan shillings), which she used to start a small business selling maize and beans in a section of a local shop. This did well, and Emily also started a hairdressing business, using part of a local salon, for which she paid KSh200 in rent. Realizing that this could not be successful in a rural setting, she teamed up with a friend to sell second-hand clothes that they bought from Nairobi. Because even this was eating into her savings, Emily opened a small hotel from which she started to make a little profit. When she received her loan, she was given 10 months to repay but the momentum in her business enabled her to repay it in 5 months with a 5 per cent interest rate. She then applied for a KSh10,000 loan to expand. She now owns two acres of land with title in her name and has ambitious plans for further expansion. She earns KSh2,000 profit even in a bad month and twice that amount in a good month. She is determined to educate her children and pays for private tuition for herself for one hour during her workday.

Source: Evaluation of the credit project being implemented by the District Social Services Office, UNICEF Kenya, 1993.

Kenya: From school drop-out to micro-entrepreneur

Biumbe dropped out of secondary school when she became pregnant and got married. She subsequently trained as a preschool teacher and found work for KSh800 per month in a nursery school. In 1989, Biumbe bought a sewing-machine to supplement her income by making dresses, and in 1992 she borrowed KSh5,000 from Tototo Home Industries, from funds provided by UNICEF, to invest in her sewing business. In 1993, she took out a second loan of KSh20,000, some of which she invested in her business, using the balance to start a private nursery school. She initially had 11 pupils, and the number soon rose to 40. Biumbe charged KSh70 per month per child for tuition, and KSh60 per month for a food service she introduced to improve the children's nutritional status. Biumbe also became the chairperson of the local women's saving club.

Source: Tototo Home Industries: Evaluation of women's credit project, UNICEF Kenya, 1994.

Home | UNICEF in Action | Highlights | Information Resources | Donations, Greeting Cards & Gifts | Press Centre | Voices of Youth | About UNICEF