May 14 2020

We share this commentary by a professional social sector manager in Kenya, East Africa.  Corporate managers who are interested in supporting and collaborating with a not-for-profit organization in African nations may find this information of interest. In posting the guest author commentary G&A Institute is not endorsing Village Ventures but sharing the information provided with our corporate and investment professionals colleagues who have Africa in focus in their sustainability journey.

Guest Post by Lindy Wafula – CEO/Lead Consultant – Village Ventures International

Greetings and a message of goodwill to you.   Kindly allow me to share information about Village Ventures International.

Ours is a non profit/social enterprise that invests in the startup and growth of village enterprises by:  

1. Providing basic education and vocational training to women, youth and people with disabilities,
2. Providing space for work, tools, and equipment for trade.
3. Provide Seed capital for raw materials and stock for business start-up.
4. Assist in the Management of village ventures to sustainability and to alleviation of poverty.  

We are currently investing in VillageVentures In East Africa — which include our Women’s Academy, a vocational training centre for women only.

We aim to train 100-to-500 young women/ mothers every year to the tune of USD$250,000 capital.  

Our Trainees also get a chance to learn by doing and earning through our Village enterprises, cottage industries and commercial villages where they also learn and work as apprentice trainees.

We train women mostly in trades that have traditionally been called “male jobs” such as: Agribusiness, Automobile Mechanics, Welding, Plumbing, Building and Construction, Heavy Vehicle driving, mobile phone and computer repairs — but also we incorporate others in catering and hospitality, hairdressing and beauty therapy, and garment making. 

We get training equipment from our partners Project Africa in Sweden, Tools with a Mission in the United Kingdom, and Tools2work from the Netherlands, who donate refurbished equipment from Europe (and we pay for shipment, customs clearance and inland transport as well as maintenance).

Other equipment that may not be provided for by our partners are bought locally through peer-to-peer entrepreneur arrangement or from local suppliers.  

We believe that our approach of vocational skills training and investment in the tools for trade, raw materials and seed capital is a catalyst to self employment and sustainable village enterprise development.  

Many village enterprises fail to take off because either the entrepreneur has no vocational or business skills, or has vocational skills but without the space, tools/equipment and financial capital to start work.

Thus collaboration with us will assist in promoting gender equality, socio-economic empowerment of women, youth employment and rural development.  

Kindly watch here my TEDx Presentation which I made when I visited the Bay Area and on the idea stage of our project when we trained Lady Mechanics in Kenya https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii7bfPpLVxs  

This initial stage of our apprenticeship training for women was partly-funded by Peery Foundation, Cordes Foundation and Global Philanthropy Alliance.  

We are kindly requesting that those interested in our work may invest in us and/or promote our work in the empowerment of women and youth in rural Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and the wider East Africa.

Also, we invite you to share with members of your network and other grant making organizations about our community work.  

We will be happy to share a comprehensive project proposal upon request. Kindly consider working in partnership with us and feel free to share information about us with your network.  

Lindy Wafula – CEO/Lead Consultant  –  Village Ventures International

P.O Box 35542 00200  City Square Nairobi, Kenya

Email.  villageventures.kenya@gmail.com