Activity Description: KENYA NATIONAL LIBRARY SERVICE (KNLS) operates mobile library trucks and two  Camel mobile libraries in Wajir and Garissa in North Eastern Kenya for primarily pastoralist people, who have no access to schools or static libraries.  In the Northeastern Province, the illiteracy rate is 85.3%, compared to 31% nationally.  

Better-suited than a car to the terrain, the camel transports books to the nomadic communities from Mondays to Thursdays. From Fridays to Sundays, the camels are released to go and feed, recuperate and vetted for any signs of disease and treatment.

Activity Description: Although illegal, using charcoal for fuel in Kenya is cheap ($150 per tonne) and therefore popular: more than two million tons of charcoal are used for fuel per year. Chardust Ltd. was founded in 2000 with the aim of producing viable substitutes for charcoal on a commercially sustainable basis. Chardust developed techniques to convert biomass wastes into low-cost charcoal briquettes.

Chardust creates local employment and sells over 200 tonnes per month into institutional and domestic markets in Kenya, displacing an equivalent amount of unsustainably harvested lumpwood charcoal. While providing a cheaper energy alternative to traditional charcoal, Chardust sales contribute to job creation, waste recycling and environmental conservation.

Activity Description: Bushproof is a humanitarian and for-profit business that develops and installs low-cost, durable water-filters and well-pumps to increase access to clean, low-cost water. In order to increase local wealth, Bushproof situates production of its pumps in low-income countries and re-investing a percentage of profits into pilot-programs and research.

Bushproof also offers training courses and consultancy services regarding water filtration, sanitation, and NGO management.

Activity Description: HealthStore franchisees are trained health care workers who operate small "CFW" drug shops strategically located to improve access to essential drugs in underserved areas of Kenya. The HealthStore micro-franchise model gives local entrepreneurs the opportunity to own and operate sustainable, profitable businesses while simultaneously curtailing incentives for corruption, as franchisees risk losing their business if they fail to comply with franchise regulations.

Activity Description: FrontlineSMS provides full text messaging management from a Windows desktop application via a mobile phone, removing the need for the user to be anywhere near an internet connection. Almost all existing commercial SMS applications tie the user to the web, and require bulk purchase of messages. FrontlineSMS, which was designed to enable NGOs and conservation groups to gain entry to SMS arenas, requires neither.

Activity Description: The MamaMikes remittance service empowers Kenyan immigrants in North America and Europe to transfer help home - not via cash, but by sending shopping credits, cell phone airtime, and other gifts. MamaMikes operates a courier delivery service in the Nairobi area, and its web site allows senders to set up a monthly remittance payment automatically deducted from their secure account.

Activity Description: The Upesi Project, supported by the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), was initiated in 1995 to promote the adoption of more efficient stoves in rural areas of western Kenya. Its goal was to improve the living and working conditions of women in rural households by enabling a significant and increasing number of women and their families to benefit from fuel-saving wood-burning stoves.

Activity Description: The Kenya Agricultural Commodity Exchange (KACE), in conjunction with mobile telephone company Safaricom, has developed a system to keep farmers better informed of commodity market prices. Short Message System (SMS) technology is behind the system, which will cost farmers only 15 shillings (about $0.20 USD) per use, giving them access to price information that was previously only available directly at the market.

Activity Description: Kenya-based BEA develops green technologies for poor communities with the intent of attracting private investment. The underlying theme for the program is capacity building for policy, regulatory frameworks and investment approaches that are compatible with development goals.

Activity Description: SC Johnson assisted Kenyan farmers to grow greater quantites of pyretheum consistently, because supply and price fluctuations in the pyretheum market had affected SC Johnson's ability to confidently develop growth strategies. SC Johnson providing the financing for KickStart to market a water irrigation pump to pyretheum farmers in Kenya, of whom only 12% had previously used irrigation techniques.

Activity Description: KACE is a private sector firm that empowers rural farmers with market information. Through a web-based platform, KACE allows buyers and sellers of agricultural commodities to trade directly with one another. This service provides relevant and timely marketing information and a transparent and competitive market price discovery mechanism for the buyers and the sellers. KACE intends to become a comm

Activity Description: Pride Africa is a microfinance organization that is using IT for increased efficiency and faster growth. It launched its portal "DrumNet," which stores information on the buying and business habits of Pride clients, in order to group the purchasing power of thousands of small entrepreneurs. Pride is also developing improved loan tracking software and, under its SunLink program, investigating the use of swipe cards and information kiosks.

Activity Description: Honey Care will delivers honey, in affordable, easy to use packages to the slum areas in Kenya. It is unique in the sense that the product is of the same quality that is used for export, and it gives slum dwellers the opportunity to benefit from the healthy uses of honey. Honey is composed of saturated sugars, thus it sucks up water from the cells. This deprives bacteria of the liquids they need, thus stunting their growth. Further, as bees make honey, they secrete glucose-oxidase, an enzyme that releases the hydrogen peroxide when it comes in contact with wounds. This release ensures anti-bacterial activities while washing the wounds.Another unique feature of this product is that is is natural, and will be packed by slum dwellers themselves. In light of this, it becomes an income generation activity. Further, the distribution will be carried out by existing small outlets in these slums - thus adding to their product line and hence revenue stream.The product is simple to use as the package will have to be pierced and eaten within 3 helpings - thus, there is no need for complicated storage facilities. The product is cheap - lower than the cost of bread in the slum areas. Further, this product is versatile - and can be eaten with bread, biscuits, with tea and also with hot water.Currently, modern medicine is very expensive in the slum areas - and many dwellers would not even be able to afford one dose - in fact, many of the dwellers have problems finding their next meal. Thus pure honey, packaged in our 75g packages, sealed with foil, will be suitable to this market.

Activity Description: In 1999, Unilever Africa Regional Group created a separate business unit called Popular Foods to target mass-market consumers with nutritious foods at affordable prices. One of their first products was Annapurna, a refined iodised salt sold in small sachets to help preserve the iodine - a product originally developed for the Indian market by Hindustan Lever. The salt has important health benefits for those who suffer from Iodine Deficiency Disorder, which can cause retardation, brain damage, and, in pregnancy, stillbirths and congenital abnormalities.

Activity Description:

Rural Kenyans can no longer rely purely on subsistence farming. They need hard cash to buy enough food and to pay for school fees and healthcare. Yet most live on farms less than two acres in size.

To help farmers maximize their productivity, Kickstart introduced their suitably-named line of MoneyMaker irrigation pumps. The pumps provide adequate irrigation, allowing small-scale subsistence farmers to turn their land into vibrant commercial enterprises. The inexpensive ($52-90) treadle operated pumps irrigate plots up to 2 acres in size from water pumped from hand-dug wells, rivers, streams, lakes or ponds.

Many thousands of entrepreneurial farmers are now irrigating with KickStart’s manual MoneyMaker irrigation pumps and changing their small subsistence farms into vibrant new commercial enterprises. With irrigation they can grow and sell as many as three to four high value vegetable crops every year, and ensure that the crop is ready for market when the price is high.

These “farmerpreneurs” are increasing their incomes by as much as ten-fold and making as much as 400,000 shillings ($5400) profit per year. KickStart’s low cost micro-irrigation pumps are transforming subsistence farms into highly profitable enterprises.

The Original MoneyMaker Pump

KickStart’s Original MoneyMaker pump was introduced in September 1996. This small treadle operated pump could pull water from as deep as 23 feet (7m) and be used to furrow irrigate up to two acres of land.

Over 4,050 Original MoneyMaker pumps were sold. They are still being used to generate over $3.9 million in new profits and wages every year and they proved the potential of micro-irrigation in East Africa. However, this pump can only pull water from a well or pond and dump it into an irrigation furrow – it cannot push the water thru a hosepipe or up a hill. It soon became clear that Kenyan farmers preferred to irrigate with a hosepipe or sprinklers and wanted to pump water up to their fields on the sides of hills. So in October 1998 KickStart introduced the new Super-MoneyMaker Pump and this new suction and pressure pump superseded the original and the Original MoneyMaker was taken off the market in February 1999.

The Super MoneyMaker Pump

The Super MoneyMaker Pressure Pump was launched in October 1998, in response to a demand by farmers for a pump that can push water uphill as well as simply pulling it up from the source. This means it is suitable for use on steeply sloping land where the water source may be at the bottom. Thousands use it to pump water from hand-dug wells, rivers, streams, lakes and ponds. It is ideal for sprinkler irrigation, filling overhead water tanks, or for use with nozzles and sprays attached to the end of the delivery hose. This powerful pump can draw water up from 23 feet (7m) and has a total pumping head of 46 feet (14m). It can be used to irrigate up to 2 acres of land.

The MoneyMaker Plus Pump

Due to the demand for a lower cost pressure irrigation pump KickStart designed and launched the MoneyMaker Plus pump in July 2001. This small leg operated pump has one piston and one cylinder but can still pull water from 23 feet (7m) deep, has a total pumping head of over 69 feet (21m) and can be used to irrigate as much as 1 acre of land.

The MoneyMaker Hip Pump

Click here to see how a $33 investment helped one family out of poverty