How peace drive turned around youths’ lives

Edwin Owino, the team leader of Eldo-UG Company, displays some of the paintings they make from recycled material, yesterday.  [PHOTO: KEVIN TUNOI/STANDARD]

By VINCENT BARTOO

They came together prior to the March 4 General Election to preach peace, and their bond has grown into a unique entrepreneurship.

The group comprising 60 youth from different ethnic communities in Uasin Gishu persuaded fellow youth against being used by politicians to cause mayhem.

“The obvious option we had after the polls was to break up and go our separate ways since we had achieved our objective,” said team leader Edwin Owino.

But they stuck together after realising they had accomplished a lot just by utilising their diverse strengths.

“Almost all of us were unemployed and it was not right for us to just go back home and remain idle,” added the group’s chairperson Gladys Chepkoech. They brainstormed on activities they could engage in to earn income. “The first opportunity we saw was in the inability by the Eldoret Municipal Council to manage waste in the town,” said Chepkoech.

They approached the council with the idea and it worked. The town’s fast growth had made it almost impossible for the council to manage garbage.

“We were so elated and quickly grabbed the opportunity. We registered our self-help group into a company we called Eldo-UG Company,” explains the group’s treasurer Clyde Wanyama. They then got the contract albeit under difficult circumstances.

“Some corrupt people wanted to frustrate us and we almost lost the contract. They wanted us to oil their hands before they could allow us,” said Wanyama. They opened an office at the Eldoret West Market where they are now based. “Today, we make close to Sh70,000 monthly from waste collection and management in the estates,” said Owino.

Waste recycling

The group did not stop there and sought other ways of conserving the environment and also make money.

They ventured into waste recycling and planting trees in institutions that hired them to beautify their compounds including schools.

From their earnings in the waste management business, the group bought a machine that recycles the waste into briquettes used as charcoal. “We target the low income earners in Eldoret,” added Chepkoech.

Mercy Corps, a US NGO that worked with the group to spread peace before the polls, also gave them a boost with a donation of Sh78,000 for the business.

Programme Officer Patropa Ambuko, said the NGO also trained them on entrepreneurship, project proposal and management.