Instilling entrepreneurship skills in young women

By Fredrick Obura

In the early morning hours of the day, just as the sun starts its ascent over the already bustling city of Nairobi, Miriam Anyango sets out for a nearby market to buy green maize on her way to school.

With Sh300, Anyango sieves through the several bags of maize on the market before making her pick.

Thrusting a large bag on her back, Anyango heads to Anointed High School, the private school she attends in the Nairobi slums of Kariobangi.

The Young Women in Enterprise club is a revolutionary outfit promoting practical business skills among school-going girls in Nairobi slums.

Anyango trudges through unpaved, and mud covered streets to arrive before other students and teachers.

She moves towards a tall red brick building where she climbs the dark stairway to a concrete outdoor patio. There, she places the large bag of maize next to a small jiko and sufuria.

It is not long until three other girls — all schoolmates, business partners, and close friends — join Anyango to help prepare boiled maize for the day.

The four girls are smart, tidy and conscious about time. It is for this reason that the four are now commonly referred to as ‘neat girls’ in school and its environs.

They met in the Young Women in Enterprise (YWE) club, a revolutionary outfit promoting practical business skills among school-going girls in Nairobi slums.

Two years ago, Pauline Mwangi initiated YWE club — a programme now under TechnoServe — an organisation focusing on job creation among girls.

Ms Mwangi says the motive behind the idea was to address the growing unemployment gap that has hit the girl-child in the region.

Citing recent statistics, she says only 30 per cent of women are in formal employment, a fact that necessitates efforts to bridge the gap to allow for equitable distribution of resources.

"Kenya generates few new jobs every year, and as a result, many young youth leaving school end up suffering," Ms Mwangi says.

"Girls are particularly disadvantaged partly due to cultural practices that favour boys as well as having to deal with matters of self-image."

Ms Mwangi says women in Kenya are especially disadvantaged, as they have limited access to business knowledge and financing.

Sense of self-worth

She says bringing young girls at par with the boys entails inculcating a sense of self-worth and introducing them to entrepreneurship at an early age.

"Teaching young girls about entrepreneurship and financial independence will help reduce incidences of sexual abuse, exploitation and other forms of harassment targeted at poor young women."

Introduced last year, YWE has been working in several schools in Nairobi slums.

Over 500 girls from 15 schools have gained entrepreneurial skills to start successful businesses, better financial management and responsible choices.

After identifying a school, YWE forms an enterprise club. Through the club, students are mentored, taught how to draw a business plan, and introduced to financial literacy and developing saving plans.

The YWE programme provides Sh300 as seed capital to each mentored girl. This enables them to start small businesses like selling stationery and easy-to-prepare food to schoolmates.

Unique opportunity

After going through the mentoring programme, the ‘neat girls’ at Anointed High School, which has no canteen, saw a unique opportunity to sell boiled maize to fellow students.

The four pooled together their initial grants of Sh300 each to buy a jiko, a boiling pot and the stock to start their trade.

Women entrepreneurs drawn from nearby communities volunteer their time to the clubs to monitor the progress of these small businesses.

Ms Mwangi says mentors provide real world insights into starting and growing a business, sharing their own business experience and offering participants new networks and opportunities.

The girls, who are now the envy of schoolmates, sell boiled maize at Sh10 and on most days, they sell every cob.

The YWE programme, which extends partnership to micro-finance institutions, also enables female students to open up savings account and initiate a saving plan.

Worldwide recognition

As the girls are busy at work minting that extra coin, Ms Mwangi’s dedication is winning her worldwide recognition.

In 2007, she was selected to participate in the Fortune/State Department International Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership programme in Washington DC, which paired participants with Fortune 500 CEO mentors.

As the programme chief executive, Ms Mwangi hopes to make the best of the opportunities she’s been granted.