Business start-up ideas for a Kenyan family

by Mr Smith
(London, UK)

For the past nine months I have been supporting a family in Kenya trying to raise their standard of living and get them in a position where that new level of living (rented house with electricity, running water, fridge and inside toilet) can be sustained by themselves. The family live in the coastal region near Malindi where jobs are seemingly very few and far between. The young lady, who is eldest of three children, trained in a hotel in a couple of roles for best part of a year with a measly training allowance of 1,000ksh per month. Due to complications relating to tribalism, friendship and husband / wife relationships within people that work in the hotel it became apparent she’d not get employment in the long term there so looked elsewhere. She’s just completed the first month of training at another hotel where the owner has taken a shine to her, the implication now is in order to secure a job after training she needs to “date” the owner (other ladies working at the same hotel have suggested this is the standard drill there) – she finds the idea of this abhorrent and has politely declined such advances pointing out she is “already accounted for”. So we are now looking for alternative opportunities.

The ideal scenario would be setting up a business that one or more of the family could participate in. I already funded the purchase of a new motorcycle, public liability insurance and municipal parking fees as a business start-up whereby the family rent the bike to another family where the father uses it as a motorcycle taxi business. I was really into this idea as it had the positive side effect of not only helping the family I’m involved with but also another. Unfortunately it appears that there are a lot of people doing this line of work in the area now so the returns are not quite what they were projected to be which is a disappointment and makes me cautious of funding more of the same.

So, this is where I’m hoping you guys may have some ideas on a number of projects I could kick-off as small concerns to begin with but with the hope that they may develop over time and provide this family with the financial independence and economic standing they crave?

Thank-you sincerely in advance and god bless.