Lilian Awoko looking after her tree nursery in Funyula Constituency, Busia County. [Benard Lusigi, Standard]
Her culture dictated that women who planted or sold trees would die.
"When I started, people refused to buy my seedlings. They said they wouldn't grow because I was a woman," Awoko recalls.
Through Village Enterprise, she received training and a Sh9,800 grant to expand her nursery.
Today, she manages more than 20,000 seedlings and supplies to county and national governments under President William Ruto's ambitious 15 billion tree-planting program.
"In a good day, I make Sh50,000 to Sh100,000," she says, adding that her once-skeptical husband is now her biggest supporter.
Shifting mindsets
According to Judith Otieno, a business mentor at Village Enterprise, the organisation has empowered more than 300 women in Busia with grants worth Sh15 million, thanks to support from the Swarovski Foundation.
"With mentorship and funding, we're enabling women to break free from poverty and defy cultural barriers that once held them back," says Otieno.
"Mindsets are changing, and women are now thriving in roles once considered taboo."
For women like Oketch and Awoko, this shift is not just about survival but about rewriting the narrative of what women in Busia-and across rural Kenya-can do.
"Women are the pillar of society," Oketch insists.
"We should be allowed to use our potential without being tied down by outdated norms that don't add value to our lives."