Creative Start-up Businesses for Kenya’s Youth

Creative Start-up Businesses for Kenya's Youth

This project will foster a culture of business creation, and businesses out of culture and creativity. Two experts from the Lake Victoria and Nyanza Creative Arts Association (LAVINCA) in Kisumu, Kenya will receive training on the methods and experiences of the Brazilian NGO Açao Communitaria, which has a successful record improving the livelihoods of talented youth and adults from underprivileged backgrounds through the development of creative social enterprises. Following three experienced community organizers from Acao Comunitaria will join LAVINCA in Kenya to mobilize and organize the local community. They will provide creative practical training for over 30 artists on dye and batik techniques, and on silk screen methods for the manufacturing of apparel, arts & crafts, stationary and ornaments. They will also provide small business advisory services for various business operations such as sales, procurement, book-keeping, and the like.

Following this preparatory work, Acao Communitaria and LAVINCA will focus their efforts on providing technical assistance towards the establishment and the initial operation of social enterprises for commerce of decorative textile products. These social enterprises will provide livelihoods to the over 30 underprivileged youth participating in this project. Acao Communitaria will assist the development of distribution networks for the products of these creative start-ups, in Kenya and internationally, while LAVINCA will provide day-to-day support to facilitate the growth and thriving of these start-ups.

The Southern Solution

For the last 40 years, the Brazilian NGO Acao Comunitaria has been supporting the development of livelihoods in the creative economy for underprivileged but talented youth and adults. Through these efforts, they have uplifted hundreds of people from poverty. Acao Comunitaria has established key partnerships in Kenya, and now with your support, their model will be replicated and taught-by-doing to LAVINCA, their Kenyan counterpart, with the ultimate goal of establishing social enterprises led by Kenyan underprivileged youth.

Project Highlights

• Acao Communitaria’s vision and methods establishing social enterprises provide underprivileged but talented youth with meaningful and creative livelihoods to provide for themselves and their families.
• This project will build capacity in Kenya through LAVINCA, enabling the replication of successes beyond the initial 30+ artists trained in decorative textile techniques and business management skills through this project.
• This project will not only develop local and national sales networks for Kenyan talent, but it will place them in contact with fair commerce systems.

Need

Except for post-election political unrest in early 2008, Kenya had, since independence, maintained remarkable stability despite crises in neighboring countries. However, it has maintained at best a stagnant economy, and extensive unemployment and underemployment affecting more than forty percent of the population. Although many Kenyans are extremely talented and creative, actively channeling their skills into tradable assets that generate sustainable livelihoods remains a challenge. Transforming talent and creativity into profitable ventures requires some entrepreneurial skills, community organization, product distribution networks, and often a little confidence and encouragement.

Strategy

Açao Communitaria’s strategy is based on:

• Providing a self-empowering alternative for underprivileged individuals to develop livelihoods;
• Capitalizing on creativity, so as to turn ideas and skill into marketable products;
• Supporting talented people to develop their skills, build their confidence and acquire the networks that enable them to start and run their own creative businesses; This project also seeks to build the capacity of LAVINCA to continue this line of activities empowering talent to develop better livelihoods in Kisumu, Kenya.

Expected Life Change

An investment of USD 44,950 will enable 100 talented youth and adults in Kisumu, An investment of USD 44,940 will enable over 30 talented youth and adults in Kisumu, Kenya to:

• Develop gainful activities and start social enterprises in the production of apparel, arts & crafts, stationary and ornaments;
• Gain and improve their skills in dye and batik techniques and in serigraphy;
• Establish marketing and sales channels for their products, particularly through fair commerce networks;

Action Plan

Formulation

Açao Communitaria and LAVINCA will develop a strategy for cooperation and a schedule of activities to lead the workshops described below, and also to provide continuous support to the establishment, development and growth of the social enterprises formed through this project.

Execution

A workshop will take place in Brazil to share the successful experiences of Açao Communitaria in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with 2 Kenyan experts, who will be trained on the methods of Açao Communitaria and on how to develop and implement activities to develop livelihoods for creative artists. Following, a two week workshops will take place in Kisumu, Kenya. The workshop will be organized by LAVINCA, as it recruits and motivates local talent, but it will be held jointly by Açao Communitaria and LAVINCA. This experience will train over 30 creative youth and adults in dye and batik techniques, in silk screen techniques and in social enterprise development. The cooperation will also produce a bank of ethnical images to facilitate future production of apparel, arts & crafts and ornaments by creative artists. Açao Communitaria and LAVINCA will provide continuous support to the more than 30 workshop participants and support their establishment of creative social enterprises through comprehensive small business services, including the development of sales networks for the products created by these artists into fair-trade marketing networks.

Support & Reporting

The project will receive continuous support and monitoring through LAVINCA in Kenya. It will also receive systematic and continuous follow-up, and direct assistance during the training workshop led by Açao Communitaria, and by their efforts to place the products of Kenya’s creative talent in fair commerce marketing networks. The project will report after each training workshop and will produce a final report at completion.

Duration

The workshops to be undertaken in this project will be completed within 2 months of obtaining funding. Follow-up on small business development and support services and assistance to development product distribution networks will continue for at least 6 subsequent months.

Project Profile LD-2

Sector: Livelihood Development

Project Duration: 9 months

Project Budget: US $ 44 950

Shares Issued: 1798

Shares Available: 1

Project Budget

Project Sector

Livelihood Development

Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day , without access to many of the social services basic to a decent human life. Their plight requires a global, comprehensive and urgent response to provide them with the tools they need to overcome poverty and attain sustainable livelihoods.

The Need for More and More Productive Livelihoods

The economies of developing countries are frequently characterized by large informal sectors, where labor has very low productivity and, therefore, marginal profitability. Such economies also frequently suffer from high under-employment or unemployment. Lack of gainful economic activity is a major cause for poverty, which feeds a large number of social ills such as poor education, diminished health and social unrest.

In this context, enhancing livelihoods becomes imperative to advance human development. Livelihoods are improved through multiple processes:

• By enhancing the skills and knowledge of individuals, so that they can better engage in self-subsistence and/or entrepreneurial activities making them more efficient, productive or profitable. Such efforts involve not only imparting training and skills development, but also facilitating access to appropriate technologies and methods, and to broader financing options for the poor. In many developing countries, enterprise development centers have been successful at assisting the development of start-up enterprises by providing skills development workshop, entrepreneurship skills and training, product design and marketing advice and other related activities.

• By aiding the construction of commercial networks and partnerships, particularly for product marketing and commercialization. Sometimes, developing linkages among small enterprises and large domestic or multinational companies can help nurture the smaller companies. Particularly since linkages between different types of firms in developing countries provide an effective channel for local companies to gain access to markets, financing, skills and know-how.

• By generating of alternative economic opportunities in order to provide new sources of employment in communities particularly affected by poverty. This entails the identification of untapped areas with potential for growth, the removal of barriers to the establishment of businesses in those economic segments, and assistance to enterprise development. Frequently, business opportunities exist in bottom-of-pyramid markets. However, it is a prerequisite for businesses to be able to operate to ensure basic community infrastructure, such as sustainable delivery of energy, water and sanitation to the underprivileged neighborhoods where such business would operate. In additions, market facilities or access and transport roads might need to meet basic standards.

• By reducing livelihood vulnerability, through diversification of income sources, and through improved sustainability of natural resources as economic inputs.

Some Best Practices in Livelihood Development

• Incubate and support the development of income generating activities through small business formation and operation services, micro-credit, training and building of marketing channels.

• Enhance or restore traditionally productive sectors, such as agriculture, livestock, fisheries and small industry.

• Improve family or community owned enterprises’ access to productive inputs and to value added components in the production and distribution processes.

• Introduce productivity enhancing technologies, such as irrigation systems, machinery for agricultural production, or fish farming technologies.

• Create stronger production and marketing linkages through training and skills development, through creation or strengthening of local organizations such as cooperatives, and through seed capital contributions.

• Promote alternative income sources by identifying economic areas which have unexploited potential and devising strategies for making them accessible to the working poor.

• Construct community infrastructure related to livelihood development and overall well being, including market facilities, access and transport roads, and water and sanitation systems, etc.

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To fund this project

Please contact: South-South Exchange
Email: ssc.hdsx@undp.org