Women entrepreneurs on a roll: Jacinta has bought a cow!

Update by Mike Calvert on the group of women from Nairobi who are expanding their businesses with micro-finance

Those of you who are interested in the fortunes of the Nairobi women entrepreneurs (see earlier posts), will be pleased to hear that things are going well. I thank the readers  of the blog for their encouragement which I am sure means a lot to the women and those that support them.

The micro-finance initiative has attracted a fifth member, Rispa and she is following in Alice’s footsteps and rearing chickens and needed the KES20,000 (£150) to ensure continuity of laying by having a second batch of chicks in the wings (pun intended) for when one batch stops laying.

I mentioned last time that the women were considering offering overdrafts short term to maximise the value and usefulness of the money. Three women have taken overdrafts of KES38,000 in total (£250) to be paid back over two months. The women are also working on registering the group so that they do not have to pay taxes.

Jacinta (left) with her husband, Steve with a customer in the shop.

The big news is that Jacinta (who has got the shop and the café) has bought a cow! She did have grand plans for a top of the range model but must have settled for a more modest animal using the proceeds of her second loan. She will now have all the milk she needs and more and will be able to supply milk to others.

I have not got a picture of the cow – I could not go out to Nairobi last week due to the bombings but watch this space. Kenyans are not sentimental about their animals but I have suggested Daisy and this has been given preliminary approval.