The Road to Nairobi
Tuesday, June 2
Earlier in the week, the Mashavu and the Wishvast team scheduled meetings in the Nairobi area with two key organizations; Jamii Bora, and Acumen Fund.
Jamii Bora Trust is a charitable trust reaching out to people within the more impoverished areas of Kenya, ranging from slum communities to street dwelling families. The purpose of the organization is to give individuals the means to rise out of poverty through micro business loans. These loans are offered to individuals who have saved money with Jamii Bora for a minimum of six weeks. Jamii Bora matches whatever the individual has in their savings account for their first loan. A successful borrower can then work his or her way up to larger loans for education and housing depending on the number of successful repayments. Jamii Bora also has several other departments regarding affordable housing as well as their own business academy that teaches their students: business studies, home economics, management, leadership as well as literacy, and basic computer skills.
Acumen Fund is a non-profit venture capital fund whose main goal is to solve the issues of global poverty. In trying to provide health, water, housing and energy to those who need it, Acumen Fund seeks to provide sustainable solutions through patient capital. By investing in entrepreneurial ventures, both loans and equity yield economic and social return. All the money gained is re-invested into new projects.
We left early Tuesday morning at 6 to make our meeting with Jamii Bora in Nairobi later that morning. We arrived with no delays to the Jamii Bora branch, where we were gathered into the conference room to go over the concepts of Mashavu and Wishvast. We first received introductions on the ideas behind the Jami Bora Trust, as well as their current and future goals. After getting caught up on the concepts behind Jamii Bora, we were told a wonderful inspirational story behind one of Jamii Bora’s own social workers, Benta, who was one of the original 50 street beggars who began saving towards her future, heping to create the Jamii Bora that we know and see today. After the introductions and stories, we received important feedback regarding both the Mashavu and Wishvast projects. We found out for Mashavu that there was a great need for kiosks to be placed in centralized locations of various communities to cut down on the costs of visiting a doctor. An example was given by one of the staff members whose baby had grown sick in the night. He had to rush to the nearest hospital which was over 4 km away, forced to take 3 different buses to reach the hospital which is not only time consuming and dangerous by night, but expensive. The idea that this hassle of traveling on 3 taxis could be cut out, and the fever potentially prevented through regular checkups at a local Mashavu kiosk was of great value to our validation for Mashavu. We also confirmed the notion of women as being the primary caregivers for the Mashavu system. An interesting part of Jamii Bora’s history is that in the beginning, the business dealt with only women regarding micro business loans. They wanted to do business with women, through the notion that the women would repay their loans and were worth the investment. This seemed provided insight culturally to the gender roles within our social context. There were also large discussions on the ideas of Wishvast and how you can gain, and define trust in others, especially outside of an individual’s social network. We learned that there is a great market for this system regarding smaller businesses such as shop owners and farmers who rely on their own social networks to operate.
After the meeting with Jamii Bora, we took a lunch break in a shopping mall outside of the Acumen Fund office. Everyone rushed out of the buses into the shopping complex eager to see all of our eating options. Many of us chose to take a break from the traditional Kenyan foods to eat and a restaurant that served yummy greasy bacon cheeseburgers and fries, along with sandwiches and an assortment of milkshakes. Sitting at the table I could see the anxious shifting of my group members as they waited for food, excited to eat food that we all know so well back home. Upstairs, the rest of the group enjoyed some great Indian food at a local restaurant. Running on a tight schedule, some people rushed to the Acumen meeting, while others waited back to pay for the food. Arriving at Acumen Fund, we met with Wendy who was a portfolio manager for Acumen Fund. She discussed the criterias that they specifically look for in potential investments. The main things that they look for in a company are scalability, social impact, and scalability. Above all however, the most important thing for Acumen Fund is social impact. The four areas that Acumen Fund will invest in are water, health, energy and agriculture. She mentioned that one of the important things that she wants to see from any of the companies that Acumen Fund invests in is how well they know their customer. Do they have a customer profile? Have they thought of all the reasons of why their customers are their customers and what all the reasons why someone might not be their customer? These are important aspects looked for in potential investments. The idea of trust was spoken of extensively here, regarding how business is done here in Kenya. Wendy stressed that Kenyans do business heavily based upon trust. This is a custom that is embedded within the culture; however the ideas of trust are slowly diminishing as western influences change how companies do business. The newer generations are finding that it takes more than just trust; it takes credit scores and more to do business. These ideas of trust proved very valuable to Wishvast and the concepts of trust and social networking.
After our last meeting we went drove to some gift shops within the downtown area to buy souvenirs and gifts for friends and family. By now, everyone had a general idea of the value of a Kenyan shilling, and this was a perfect opportunity to practice our bargaining skills. There was extra motivation for getting a good deal, as the person who got the best deal would be awarded a free Tusker. After collecting our gifts we headed for dinner at the restaurant Carnivore. As we pulled into the driveway for the restaurant, beautiful signs, elaborate lighting and intricate designs caught our eyes. We were welcomed by a man in traditional attire, and brought to our table to eat. The menus were set, with soup, salad, and a wonderful main course of assorted meats, including more exotic meats such as alligator and ostrich meatballs. The waiters would come around the table with giant chunks of meat on a sword where they would cut small portions off onto your plate upon request. Everyone had a great time, the food and drinks were wonderful. With our bellies stuffed to their limits, we got back on the bus and headed back to Nyeri after an exciting and eventful day.
Written By: Katie Briggs
