“Before the KYEOP project I did not have anything to do,” says Mercy Awuor Kinda who is a KYEOP cycle 2 business support beneficiary from Kisumu. She used her grant to start a rice farming business that has employed over 30 youth in her village. She used her first tranche to lease a piece of land and buy seeds. She also bought and supplied tomatoes to a nearby private school.
She has been doing rice farming for about 4 seasons and makes at least 80 thousand shillings from the sales. In a good season, she harvests 25 to 30 bags of rice selling at 3 thousand per bag. KYEOP has transformed her life as she has been able to buy her own piece of land and build a home for her family. She has also taken her kids to private school.
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Geoffrey Nakuwa Nangolol is a cycle 3 business support beneficiary who established a market stall that sells farm produce in Turkana County. Turkana, being an arid area, farm produce is a lucrative business venture for him. He was jobless before applying for the project and had no money to continue with education after form four. He is proud to be self-employed and advised youth who benefit from the grant to use it wisely. He is grateful for the opportunity and hopes to keep expanding his business.
It’s not how much money you make, but how much money you keep, how hard it works for you, and how many generations you keep it for.
Robert Kiyosaki
Margaret Wambui Mwangi benefited from both training and internship and business support in cycle 1 and cycle 3. Before joining KYEOP she was involved in doing odd and casual jobs to survive. They included selling fries on the roadside, hawking clothes, and being a house help. She trained in fashion and design specifically dressmaking and tailoring. During training with her master craftsman, she was keen and learned all the necessary skills. After the end of the internship period, she borrowed shop space from her fiend to start doing repairs on torn clothes. She used a sewing machine she initially had at home. As time went by she applied for cycle 3 business support and luckily she was selected. She used the grant to open her own space and buy raw materials. She is currently in a successful business and accredits knowledge from both Life Skills Training and Core Business Skills Training to help her market her products. She plans to expand into a bigger shop and buy an overlapping and embroidery machine to help cut the cost of taking her clients clothes to town for the same service.