Empowering rural women entrepreneurs in Kisumu
Table banking, business training and access to capital help rural women grow their businesses and provide for their families.
Women work hard running small businesses to support their families, selling vegetables, cereals, fabric, potato chips and household goods, or running retail shops.
Yet they often lack access to the capital to grow their businesses, and the training and skills to make them resilient. The Riley Orton Foundation connects marginalized rural women in Kisumu, Kenya, to the resources they need to run successful businesses and social enterprises.
Training, table banking and seed funding
Our entrepreneurship program trains rural women in table banking, business management and budgeting, and connects them to seed funding to improve their businesses.
Through table banking, the women access microloans of $50 to $500 to run and grow their businesses.
Why it matters
We believe that empowering rural women to provide for themselves and their families is key to eradicating poverty. Through ongoing training and support, women gain the skills to build flourishing small enterprises, from which they can pay their children’s school fees and provide shelter, food, clothing and healthcare.
Economic empowerment of women around the lake region also helps reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. Women with their own income are better able to resist exploitation, such as “sex for fish” and wife inheritance, and other barriers that hold them back from succeeding in life.
