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The post The Charity CEO Podcast: An Interview with Dianne Calvi appeared first on Village Enterprise.

That’s why we’re thrilled to announce on Earth Day new funding from the Arcus Foundation to expand Village Enterprise’s PARKS project in Kibale National Park, Uganda!

The Poverty Alleviation and Removal of Kibale Snares (PARKS) project, implemented in partnership with Ngogo Chimpanzee Project, was launched in 2021 with funding from the Arcus Foundation to reduce extreme poverty among rural communities near Kibale National Park and to protect one of the largest remaining populations of endangered East African chimpanzees and their habitat. Without opportunities to earn sustainable incomes, households living in extreme poverty near the park have often relied on illegal hunting and lumbering in order to provide for their families. Village Enterprise works to equip these communities with the training, startup funding, and ongoing business mentoring to launch businesses that do not harm vital ecosystems in and around Kibale National Park. As a result, households are able to earn greater incomes, break the cycle of extreme poverty, and become stewards of their environment.

PARKS impact to date

Three years into this project, PARKS has already made a tangible impact in the Kibale National Park region. To date, Village Enterprise has trained 3,823 entrepreneurs (63% of whom are women) who have worked together in groups of three to launch 1,077 businesses in the area. As a result of their businesses, more than 20,000 lives have been impacted as these new business owners lift themselves and their families onto a sustainable pathway out of extreme poverty.

On top of these outcomes, Village Enterprise has helped establish 109 business savings groups (BSGs) as part of the PARKS project. The BSGs are a crucial part of our poverty graduation model—giving entrepreneurs a community where they are encouraged to put away savings on a weekly basis. They also provide an important safety net as entrepreneurs are able to access greater capital in the form of loans that they can take out in case of emergency or to further expand their business.

Last year, Village Enterprise also introduced a new component to strengthen the climate and conservation pillar of this project: conservation champions. Within each BSG, a conservation champion is selected, trained on conservation practices, and then equipped to share their expertise with BSG and community members. Together with their village, the conservation champion creates a tailored conservation plan for their community that supports the protection of wildlife and vital ecosystems. The conservation champions then work with fellow BSG members to ensure all newly-launched businesses are environmentally-friendly and conduct follow-up meetings to ensure actionable steps have been taken—at both the household and community level—towards achieving the village’s conservation plan. To date, Village Enterprise has trained and empowered 52 conservation champions.

On top of launching businesses to reduce the need for illegal hunting, and introducing conservation messaging to reduce habitat destruction, PARKS is taking another proactive measure to ensure the local population of endangered East African chimpanzees is protected. Through Ngogo Chimpanzee Project’s work on the project, 824 hunting snares have been removed from Kibale National Park. With active monitoring of park borders, anti-poaching patrols, and the removal of snares, PARKS aims to continue seeing diminished hunting in and around the park and an increase in the overall chimpanzee population.

Meet two extraordinary entrepreneurs

Wilson from Katabe Village

Prior to joining Village Enterprise, Wilson, 55, relied on farming and casual labor to provide for his eight children. His crops—which he planted in the wetlands of Mpanga in Kibale National Park—yielded very little each season and, unbeknownst to him, began to degrade the swamp’s ecosystem.

As Village Enterprise provided training on how to launch a sustainable business, the conservation messaging struck home for Wilson. He realized he needed to play an active role in restoring the wetlands and quickly got to work. By moving his crops inland and utilizing innovative farming techniques to maximize his smaller plot of land, Wilson began growing and selling cabbages, zucchini, and tomatoes, allowing the wetlands to naturally restore themselves. With his profits, Wilson diversified his income sources by launching a beekeeping business in the area. Not only does it provide a secondary source of income throughout the year, but the bees help pollinate gardens in the area and keep out roaming elephants, preventing a loss of damaged crops and reducing the chances of potential human-wildlife conflict.

With the guidance of the conservation champion from his BSG, Wilson was also able to use some of his business profits to build energy-saving cooking stoves and plant 50 mango trees. Because these cooking stoves are more efficient than traditional stoves, they require less firewood which helps reduce the need for sourcing lumber. Additionally, the mango trees contribute both to the area’s biodiversity, and the fruit can be sold for profit or supplement his household’s food reserves. With his conservation champion’s guidance, Wilson has been able to restore the natural habitat around his community, and utilize the natural resources available in a way that does not harm the environment.

Wilson’s businesses have not only advanced conservation and habitat restoration, but they’ve impacted his own life and the lives of his children as well. Using his business profits, he’s been able to pay school fees for all of his children and has bought two cows and five goats. He plans to start selling their milk and offspring with the hopes of finishing a new home.

Grace from Busoro Hamusoko Village

Grace, 49, found farming increasingly difficult due to the unpredictable weather in her village brought on by climate change. As a single mother to nine children, she struggled to make enough money to provide for her children’s basic needs, such as consistent meals or paying for all of their school fees. But this all began to change when she joined Village Enterprise.

Through the training she received on business diversification, Grace knew that she needed to have multiple sources of income in order to build resilience and mitigate the risks caused by climate change. Together with her two business partners, they first launched a retail store selling household goods and food staples, and quickly used their profits to expand into goat rearing and growing maize. Collectively, these three businesses will support Grace and her business partners throughout the year as the weather patterns fluctuate.

With additional training on the importance of conservation near Kibale National Park, Grace’s conservation champion also helped her plant coffee trees in the area. Not only will these trees contribute to reforestation and bolstering the ecosystem, but harvesting coffee beans from the trees will be yet another source of income that Grace can use to support her family.

Already, Grace has been able to pay school fees for her children and provide them with increased and more nutritious meals. Her dream is to be able to continue saving up enough to send all of her children to university, as well as build a new house. Through her hard work, creativity, and determination, she is well on her way.

The future of PARKS

With the new funding from the Arcus Foundation, 1,890 more entrepreneurs like Wilson and Grace will be equipped with the training, startup capital, and business mentoring to launch 630 environmentally-friendly businesses and lift themselves out of extreme poverty. The funding also provides resources for removing snares, furthering conservation messaging through 42 additional conservation champions, and implementing anti-poaching patrols to reduce illegal hunting and lumbering. As a result of these conservation efforts and the businesses launched, not only will 12,600 lives be transformed, but Kibale National Park’s ecosystem will be better safeguarded, and the population of endangered East African chimpanzees will be better protected.

By empowering local communities to launch sustainable business ventures, PARKS is providing a critical link between conservation efforts and the fight against extreme poverty in rural Africa. When individuals like Wilson and Grace are given the opportunity to thrive economically while preserving their natural environment, it not only enhances their livelihoods but contributes to building a sustainable future for all.

The post Thriving together: How new enterprises around Kibale National Park are reducing poverty and saving endangered chimpanzees appeared first on Village Enterprise.

This funding will help to protect the chimpanzee population in Kibale National Park in Uganda by supporting 1,890 local community members, who might otherwise have depended on illegal poaching and lumbering to provide for their families, to start small enterprises. It will also fund anti-poaching patrols and the removal of snares.

The project has already trained 3,823 entrepreneurs with skills on how to start microenterprises, develop savings habits, and on the value of conservation. The training has resulted in the creation of 1,077 conservation-friendly microenterprises by local entrepreneurs, including retail and grocery shops, agribusinesses, animal husbandry, and even beekeeping.

As a consequence of these microenterprises, 20,180 individuals have been supported onto a sustainable pathway out of extreme poverty, as well as reduced hunting and habitat destruction in Kibale National Park. It also resulted in 824 snares being removed from the park.

Supporting households to generate sustainable incomes

The new grant will enable Village Enterprise to train a further 1,890 entrepreneurs living in extreme poverty through a one-year program which will provide them with the seed capital, mentoring, and business and financial literacy training they need to establish microenterprises that are conservation-friendly.

As part of the program, Village Enterprise has already helped establish 109 savings groups, which are small communities of fellow entrepreneurs who help encourage each other to put away savings on a weekly basis. The new funding will allow for 42 new business savings groups to be created. These savings groups also allow entrepreneurs to have access to greater capital through loans that they can use to expand their enterprises or in case of emergency.

The program empowers the new entrepreneurs to generate an increased and more consistent income for their households, establish a sustainable pathway out of extreme poverty, and become less – and eventually no-longer – reliant on the need for income generated via illegal hunting or lumbering inside of Kibale National Park.

Snare removal and anti-poaching patrols

The grant will also enable the Ngogo Chimpanzee Project to operate eight two-person anti-poaching patrol teams in the Kibale National Park area. These patrols will remove snares, deterring individuals from hunting and destroying habitat by illegal logging activities. In addition, the grant will provide the margins of the park with two patrol teams which will reduce crop raiding and improve community relations with the park.

To strengthen the climate and conservation pillar of the project, one member from each business savings group is selected as a conservation champion. These champions are then trained on conservation practices and create tailored plans for their communities that support the protection of wildlife and ecosystems.

Dianne Calvi, CEO and President of Village Enterprise, commented:

“Thanks to the Arcus Foundation, Village Enterprise will be able to transform the lives of even more people living in extreme poverty near Kibale National Park, while also protecting the park’s vital ecosystems and one of the largest remaining populations of East African chimpanzees.

In order for conservation efforts to truly succeed, we can’t take away an individual’s ability to earn an income, especially when they are living in extreme poverty. We need more projects like PARKS that foster both conservation and the entrepreneurial spirit. By providing individuals with the training to become entrepreneurs, we are offering them a sustainable alternative to generate income, increase their savings, and eliminate their reliance on illegal hunting or deforestation. Ultimately, this is how we can safeguard nature, protect endangered species, and end extreme poverty.”

Media enquiries:

Village Enterprise – villageenterprise@wearesevenhills.com

Notes to editors:

Find out more about Village Enterprise’s work here.

About Village Enterprise

Village Enterprise’s mission is to end extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship, innovation, and collective action. We work with vulnerable women, refugees, and youth who are most impacted by climate change, conflict, and displacement, and equip them with skills and resources to launch climate-smart businesses, build savings, and put themselves and their families onto a sustainable path out of extreme poverty. Village Enterprise has started over 80,000 businesses, trained over 274,000 first-time entrepreneurs, and positively transformed the lives of over 1,656,000 people in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

The post New funding to train 1,890 entrepreneurs, reduce extreme poverty, and protect endangered chimpanzees in Uganda appeared first on Village Enterprise.

As part of Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation model, these 26 women from Cherukusi village have all been equipped with the training, startup cash, and mentoring to launch sustainable micro businesses. Every Thursday, they have their business savings group meeting, where they save weekly earnings from their businesses and provide small loans to each other—with repayment, including interest. With the income earned from their businesses and the savings and loans from their business savings group, these women are breaking the cycle of poverty for their households and better providing for their families.

But the ringing of the smartphone signifies that this isn’t a traditional business savings group—it’s part of Village Enterprise’s pilot of the DreamSave app—a digital savings ledger designed by DreamStart Labs. Instead of using paper ledgers to record their weekly savings, targets, loans, and repayments, the Tapoyen business savings group is using DreamSave.

Grace Chemtai, the chairwoman of Tapoyen group, which is named after the Tapoyo tree, a thick reddish bark tree that thrives in arid areas and whose branches are commonly used as a whip to herd cows due to its durability, enthusiastically praised the impact of the new savings app. DreamSave keeps track of each member’s attendance, savings, and credit records, significantly transforming the way they organize and conduct their meetings.

She said using the app had helped cut down meeting time by more than half—from two hours to about 45 minutes—while also boosting members’ attendance and savings, as they know the meetings would not take up precious time they could be using to attend to their various businesses.

“Attendance has improved since we started using DreamSave. Even the amounts of money we save have increased,” she said, adding that group members did not want to miss meetings because they know the app will use the attendance records to determine an individual’s commitment to savings and their ability to repay a loan.

DreamSave is changing the game for rural groups that have never used a smartphone before. Under Village Enterprise’s graduation model, which has lifted thousands of women and their families out of extreme poverty, the app is quickly replacing manual ledgers that are tedious to keep and occasionally prone to human error.

Reducing mistakes in financial records has also boosted the trust of members in their savings group’s elected officials that their money is safe.

Still in its pilot stage, DreamSave is proving to be a vital tool that not only makes it simpler for the business groups to run their affairs but also makes it possible for the economically disadvantaged to be financially included—ensuring that no one is left behind.

So far, a dozen groups—each with 30 members—across Kenya (West Pokot), Uganda (Soroti) and Rwanda (Rulindo) have started using DreamSave. These groups have recorded an average 50% increase in savings and 85% increase in meeting attendance, according to data gathered by Village Enterprise’s technology team.

The app also saves time for Village Enterprise’s business mentors who set up business savings groups, oversee their operations, and train new entrepreneurs on how to run their businesses and maximize profits. With the reduced time required for each group meeting, business mentors can now visit more groups each day than they could before.

“Technology can help us reach more people and have a greater impact on our effort to end extreme poverty. That’s exactly what DreamSave has helped us do in the regions we’ve piloted,” said Meshack Mbinda, Senior Director of Technology Solutions at Village Enterprise.

“We’ve observed that groups using DreamSave consistently emerge as top savers in their regions,” he added.

After a successful pilot, Village Enterprise now plans to roll out DreamSave to all regions of operation in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, with a long-term goal of having all business savings groups using the app by 2025.

In Chekurusi, a middle-aged woman chuckled looking at a smartphone after receiving Ksh.2,000 (about $13) as a short-term loan to get more feed for her poultry business. Her loan would be payable in a month’s time.

“DreamSave has brought us change, peace, and happiness!” Grace said amidst a symphony of approval from her group members.

The post Armed with an award-winning savings app, women in Kenya are combating poverty appeared first on Village Enterprise.

When Lotorupe joined Village Enterprise, she was 45 years old, a widow, and the primary caretaker for eight children all living together in a small mud house. Having never been to school or owned a business, she struggled to feed her children and pay for their school fees.

But through Village Enterprise, Lotorupe launched a business buying and selling goats alongside two other widows. In a region where women are traditionally not permitted to own animals—nor even allowed near livestock markets—they were collectively challenging what was possible for women in their community. And it worked. Because of the skills and training they learned through Village Enterprise, their business took off. Using the increasing profits from their business, Lotorupe was able to diversify her income by launching an additional business on the side of selling groceries, as well as keeping chickens to earn and save even more.

As a part of the Village Enterprise poverty graduation model, Lotorupe also joined a business savings group—a group of 30 entrepreneurs working together and meeting weekly to build savings, assets, and save for emergencies. Traditionally, the group records are kept in paper books, but as part of our DreamSave pilot program, Lotorupe’s business savings group began keeping all their records on the DreamSave app on a smartphone. This not only helped them maintain more accurate records, but the app sent notifications reminding Lotorupe of her savings targets and even sent celebratory alerts when she reached her goals.

Created by DreamStart Labs, the DreamSave app was piloted by Village Enterprise in 12 communities in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. Lotorupe loved the app so much that she eventually exceeded her savings targets. Having originally set a target of putting aside $275 USD, she ended up saving $350 USD and was able to build her family a brand new tin-roofed house. She was also able to use her profits to purchase a donkey, which she uses to fetch water and reduce her fatigue, and she has plans to sell the donkey’s offspring to further her return on investment.

Utilizing DreamSave not only encouraged and motivated Lotorupe on her business progress, but it helped her savings group become much more efficient. Their meetings grew shorter, allowing more time for the women to return to operate their businesses or run errands. DreamSave also helped the women increase their literacy skills, and they became more resilient to climate change as a result of their success. Having saved money for emergencies, digitized their records, and purchased household assets, they’re more prepared to handle unprecedented situations.

It’s been over a year since Lotorupe joined Village Enterprise, and she’s tremendously happy with her business and how much money she’s been able to save because of DreamSave. She’s been able to provide consistent, healthy meals for her children, and is now confident about what the future holds for her family.

Village Enterprise is continuing to expand the DreamSave pilot, with the goal of having all business savings groups on the app by 2025.

The post Lotorupe’s Story: Building savings, resilience, and a brighter future with DreamSave appeared first on Village Enterprise.

This International Women’s Day, we hope you’ll join us as we take a look at four of our extraordinary entrepreneurs across East Africa and celebrate their hard work and determination to build brighter futures for themselves and their families.

Joanne from Mt. Elgon, Kenya

In the mountainous region of western Kenya, Joanne, 52, and her husband take care of five children and four grandchildren. After completing training through Village Enterprise and Days for Girls in 2021, Joanne launched a business making and selling washable menstrual pads—a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly solution for a region without widespread access to feminine hygiene products.

Joanne was part of a unique project designed to help women from coffee-growing communities in Mt. Elgon break cycles of extreme poverty while also dismantling menstrual health stigmas. Funded by The Starbucks Foundation, Village Enterprise and Days for Girls sought to improve the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward menstrual heath as well as worked to ensure women like Joanne could overcome barriers and launch vital businesses needed by the community.

Along with her two business partners, who are also women, Joanne began selling their menstrual pads to nearby schools in Mt. Elgon. As a result of their efforts—and those of similar businesses started by the project—more girls in their community have been able to stay in school now that they have necessary feminine hygiene products. Women have reported an increase in self-confidence, self-respect, and self-reliance, and this project’s training on menstrual health has also led to a reduction in teen pregnancies. In fact, prior to the program, roughly 300 girls in the area dropped out of school each year because they became pregnant. But after the program, the number dropped significantly in 2022 to 60 girls. In 2023, after the program had formally ended, it continued to drop again—this time to just 28 students. As of 2024, data from the Mt. Elgon Sub-county Ministry of Education shows that enrollment for girls in high school has surpassed that for boys in the area.

Not only did Joanne’s business meet a critical need for female students, it also began slowly sparking conversations among men on menstrual health and the societal stigmas facing women. As fathers in the community witnessed the positive impact of Joanne’s initiative on their daughters’ lives, attitudes toward menstrual health began to change.

While the project between Village Enterprise and Days for Girls concluded after two years, the impact continues. The transformative influence of Joanne’s business has extended to her own life as well. Not only is she no longer living in extreme poverty, but she’s used her profits to renovate her home, purchase livestock, and pay school fees for her children. Her confidence has grown with her business success and she now sees herself as an important voice in the community, earning respect from local leaders.

As part of The Starbucks Foundation’s goal to positively impact 1 million women and girls in coffee-, tea-, and cocoa-growing communities, The Starbucks Foundation and Village Enterprise are continuing to increase income and savings and build resilience for an additional 500 women in Mt. Elgon’s coffee-growing communities by equipping first-time entrepreneurs with the tools and resources to reach their full potential and pursue their dreams.

To date, The Starbucks Foundation has empowered more than 2,400 female entrepreneurs to launch sustainable businesses through Village Enterprise, transforming the lives of more than 16,000 women, men, and children in Mt. Elgon. On top of this impact, over 8,000 women and girls have been reached in the region with cost-effective and sustainable menstrual health products. The generational impact of this will only continue to grow as more young girls continue to have unburdened access to school.

Sharon from Agago, Uganda

Before joining Village Enterprise, Sharon never imagined that she could be a leader in her community. But now, she’s proud to be one, and she’s helping other women to become leaders, too.

One of the core components of Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation model is business savings groups. Composed of 30 entrepreneurs, these groups meet weekly throughout our entire program to build savings and foster community as members support one another on their journeys to becoming first-time business owners. When the time came to select a chairperson for their business savings group, Sharon was nominated by her friend. As the votes poured in from her fellow members, they all voted in agreement: Sharon would be their first chairperson and leader.

Although she was nervous of her newfound position and responsibilities, Sharon was able to overcome her nerves through Village Enterprise’s leadership training. Her Village Enterprise business mentor also worked with her, teaching skills on how to lead people, manage group meetings, and navigate public speaking. “Because of how much I have grown through Village Enterprise, I am encouraging other women to start taking leadership positions at any level, not to shy away, but to take courage and practice the leadership skills that Village Enterprise has taught us,” said Sharon. “The training that we received has enabled us to move from nowhere, to somewhere.”

On top of growing into her own as an effective and influential leader in her community, Sharon’s business has been tremendously successful. She’s been able to use her profits to purchase household assets—such as solar panels, a bicycle, utensils, a radio, goats and pigs—and she’s currently saving up with her husband to purchase an ox which they plan to use for starting their own household farming business.

Halima from Dollo Ado, Ethiopia

Due to the prolonged droughts in southeastern Ethiopia, all of Halima’s livestock perished. With no other option but to rebuild her life elsewhere, Halima arrived at the Heleweyn Refugee Settlement as an internally displaced person along with her nine children. Without a way to earn an income, Halima relied on food from humanitarian aid organizations and asking distant relatives for help, but this was often not enough, and she and her family were left to live on less than $1 USD per day. This took a toll on Halima both physically and emotionally, as she was constantly worried about meeting her family’s basic needs.

But near the end of 2023, everything changed as Halima was selected for DREAMS. This award-winning model combines Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation program with Mercy Corps’ expertise in Market Systems Development to better serve refugees and their host communities and help them build sustainable livelihoods. Halima was part of the first cohort of DREAMS entrepreneurs as the model launched in Ethiopia thanks to funding from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the IKEA Foundation.

Through DREAMS, Halima learned not only how to operate a business, but the leadership, communication, and financial literacy skills to make her business successful. Together with two women, Halima opened a retail store selling honey and was connected with local suppliers to enhance the overall market system. But since the honey supply naturally fluctuated with the season’s availability, they also started a second business of buying and selling goats. Together, their two businesses have been so successful that they were able to expand their original honey business into a store that also sells vegetables and other groceries.

“Today is a different day to celebrate. I remember sitting at home without work, now I am actively running a business,” said Halima, reflecting on how much her life has changed since joining Village Enterprise. “I can send my children to better healthcare services if need be, my family’s living standard and decision making has improved, and my social status has been raised.”

Halima and her business partners have enjoyed setting goals together and sharing responsibilities as their business grows. Having only been in the program for six months, they’ve come so far from where they started and their journey of transformation has only just begun. “I am quite confident of our future,” said Halima. “I want to be among the best entrepreneurs selling honey and goats in the village, and I also want to inspire other women.”

Emerance from Rulindo, Rwanda

Before joining Village Enterprise, Emerance and her two business partners, Lucie and Domithile, were farmers for survival. They grew Irish potatoes, but their harvests often did not yield enough to adequately feed themselves and their families. But now, their business called “Bright Future ” is one of the most successful in their village.

Through Village Enterprise, Emerance learned basic business skills and how to diversify income streams, but the most important thing she learned was the culture of savings and how to invest into her business to help it grow. She started selling shoes because there was demand for a shoe store in her community, but after taking a loan through her business savings group—and later successfully paying it off in full—she expanded her business to sell fabrics, which she can also tailor for customers. Recently, she and her business partners also invested in chickens, which will serve as a third way to bring in income. Emerance and her business partners continue to keep a keen eye on other gaps in the market that their business could fill and are determined to become the most successful entrepreneurs in the area.

Emerance is proud of their business success so far, but even more proud of her ability to better provide for her children. Not only has she been able to send her three children back to school, but she’s even able to afford to send them all to private school. Confident that the quality of private education will better serve her children in the long run and provide more opportunities, Emerance knows the fees are worth it for their futures. Her business partner, Lucie, has also been able to use their business profits to care for her sister’s two children, both of whom have disabilities.

Emerance, Lucie, and Domithile each share a sense of pride when reflecting on where they started from. Where they used to depend entirely on their husbands, now they’re the ones providing for household needs and feeding their children. As they look to the future, Emerance and her team want to pay it forward, too. “We want to teach other young women how to become entrepreneurs,” said Emerance. That’s the power of entrepreneurship—not only does it transform the lives of business owners and their families, but the positive impact continues to ripple outward to neighbors, communities, and generations to come.

Joanne, Sharon, Halima, and Emerance are just four of the 275,000 entrepreneurs who have launched businesses through Village Enterprise, transforming over 1.65 million lives across East Africa. Together with your support, Village Enterprise can invest in empowering millions of more women to break the cycle of extreme poverty and build brighter futures for themselves and their families.

The post Extraordinary women, extraordinary entrepreneurs appeared first on Village Enterprise.

•   The grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is expected to impact over 4,000 lives in Kenya and empower the launch of 240 businesses

•   Funding will also allow Village Enterprise to lay the foundation for three county governments in Kenya to manage poverty graduation programs

SAN CARLOS, Calif., February 29, 2024 — Village Enterprise, the nonprofit seeking to end extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship, innovation, and collective action, today announces a $1.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The grant will fund two new strategic initiatives in Kenya to sustainably scale Village Enterprise’s proven poverty graduation model through collective action. The aim of the project is to strengthen partnerships with county governments, empowering them to independently manage graduation programs. It also aims to work with private sector businesses to better link entrepreneurs to markets through the award-winning DREAMS model.

Empowering local delivery of poverty graduation

Village Enterprise will work closely with three county governments in Kenya—Makueni, Taita Taveta, and West Pokot—to develop and implement clear poverty graduation policies, build the capacity of government officials to manage the programs, and develop an integrated monitoring system to track graduation program participants efficiently.

The aim is to lay the groundwork for county governments to independently manage and scale graduation programs to help more people lift themselves out of extreme poverty.

Building private sector networks

In addition, Village Enterprise will pilot its innovative Delivering Resilient Enterprises and Market Systems (DREAMS) model, developed with Mercy Corps, in Garissa County of Kenya. The targeted outcomes for the initiative include training 720 people living in extreme poverty to become first-time entrepreneurs who will launch 240 new businesses in groups of three. These new businesses will positively impact the lives of 4,800 people living in extreme poverty.

This is the first time the DREAMS approach will be tested in Kenya after successful implementation in Ethiopia and Uganda. It is also the first time DREAMS will target and work with general populations living in extreme poverty, as the model has previously been implemented with refugee populations living in settlements. DREAMS aims to link graduation program participants not just to markets but also to private sector actors like financial institutions, and agriculture input providers. If successful, it could demonstrate a sustainable model for integrating graduation with market systems and the private sector that could be replicated across sub-Saharan Africa.

Dianne Calvi, CEO and President of Village Enterprise, commented:

“This generous grant will allow us to demonstrate how our graduation approach can be scaled sustainably through partnerships with local governments and private sector actors to transform the lives of families living in extreme poverty in rural Africa. We are very grateful to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for their investment in these two strategic initiatives in Kenya to end extreme poverty through collective action. ”

Media enquiries

Village Enterprise – villageenterprise@wearesevenhills.com 

Notes to editors

Find out more about Village Enterprise’s work here.

About Village Enterprise

Village Enterprise’s mission is to end extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship, innovation, and collective action. We work with vulnerable women, refugees, and youth who are most impacted by climate change, conflict, and displacement, and equip them with skills and resources to launch climate-smart businesses, build savings, and put themselves and their families onto a sustainable path out of extreme poverty. Village Enterprise has started over 80,000 businesses, trained over 274,000 first-time entrepreneurs, and positively transformed the lives of over 1,656,000 people in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

The post New Funding for Strategic Initiatives to End Extreme Poverty appeared first on Village Enterprise.

Over the past two decades, Linnet has brought passion to every role she has taken on at Village Enterprise, and she has witnessed the organization grow from a small nonprofit to an international NGO with a team of over 500 staff members.

To celebrate her anniversary, we asked Linnet to share some of her story, along with a few of her favorite memories from the past 20 years. Join us in celebrating our stunning colleague Linnet!

Q: You’ve worked at Village Enterprise for 20 years—how incredible! Can you tell us the story of how you first got involved with Village Enterprise?

A: Thank you, that’s a good question. I cannot believe it is now two decades since I joined Village Enterprise. When I started as an intern, I assisted the prior Country Director to organize her receipts for US reporting and assist with other office work like making errands, paying bills, and keeping the office clean. It has been a long journey, though very memorable.

Q: What’s your current position, and what do you enjoy most about it?

A: Currently, I am the Finance and Administration Manager for Kenya and I am very passionate about what Village Enterprise does as an organization. As the Finance and Administration Manager, I may not directly interact with the entrepreneurs we work with, but just ensuring these entrepreneurs are supported and receive the seed capital to start their businesses to change their lives is so fulfilling.

Q: How have you seen Village Enterprise change over the past 20 years?

A: I have witnessed Village Enterprise grow all along the way. This is by having different strategic plans that led to its growth. When I joined Village Enterprise we were only three staff in Kenya (Country Director, Assistant Country Director, and myself). During that time we used to have volunteer business mentors who were engaged when funds were available. Now we have over 300 employed staff just in Kenya, multiple departments, and digital technology that has made Village Enterprise stand out. Village Enterprise started operating in a small office, but now we have three offices across Kenya located in different regions to reach those who live in extreme poverty and make their lives better.

Q: You’ve experienced and accomplished so much over the past 20 years, but do you have a favorite memory from work that stands out? Or an experience that was particularly meaningful?

A: One day we went for grant disbursement, and we had a female entrepreneur who shared her story that really touched me. She was a widow and after her husband passed on, nobody in the community wanted to associate with her—they perceived her to be a beggar. But she was lonely, and she had lost hope in life. Village Enterprise went to work in that community and through Village Enterprise’s program, she made friends and they worked together to run their business so that they could earn a living. She was able to sustain herself and her children, no longer needing to beg. The community that had isolated her now embraced her. Her story really touched me and motivated me to continue working with Village Enterprise and ensure that if there is another woman out there experiencing the same, then we can give her hope again.

Another experience that has also been fulfilling was shifting from cash disbursement to mobile money disbursement when providing business grants to our entrepreneurs. Initially during disbursement, we had to go to the bank to withdraw cash and carry it to the field which was risky. But after embracing mobile technology, this has made our disbursement process to be much more efficient and secure, and we can disburse grants to different regions at the same time, even in very remote areas.

Q: How has working at Village Enterprise impacted your life?

A: Village Enterprise has really impacted my life. Professionally, I have grown and developed so many skills. I got the chance to pursue my degree while at Village Enterprise and I was able to pay for my university fees which my parents could not afford. Through Village Enterprise, I have been able to learn and interact with two accounting packages, QuickBooks and NetSuite, which has been so amazing. Also, managing Village Enterprise funds and supporting our team in achieving Village Enterprise’s mission and vision feels really rewarding. Interacting with stunning colleagues from different countries and learning from each other has also made me grow professionally.

Congratulations, Linnet, and thank you for everything you’ve done for Village Enterprise and the entrepreneurs we serve!

The post Linnet ​​Ayuma: Celebrating 20 years at Village Enterprise appeared first on Village Enterprise.

On top of everything listed below, Village Enterprise also received its ninth consecutive four-star rating from Charity Navigator and earned a perfect, 100% score—an honor achieved by less than one-tenth of one percent of all charities. We were also a finalist for Charity Navigator’s first-ever Community Choice Award.

Thank you for making 2023 our most impactful year to date! If you would like to learn more about all that was accomplished, check out our recently published Annual Report.

1. Transformed more lives in one year than ever before—over 252,000.

By equipping women, refugees, and youth to become entrepreneurs, we’re breaking generational cycles of extreme poverty and creating economic opportunities for communities all across rural Africa. It’s hard to overstate the transformative impact this has for the families we serve. As our entrepreneurs now have the means to generate sustainable income and build their savings, they can invest in things that really matter—housing, education, nutrition, healthcare, their family’s future, and pursuing their dreams.

2. Funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for strategic new projects

Near the end of 2023, Village Enterprise received a $1.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This funding will support our collaborative work with the Makueni, Taita Taveta, and West Pokot county governments in Kenya to lay the foundation for them to independently manage poverty graduation programs. It will also support the implementation of Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation program as part of a DREAMS pilot in Garissa County, which will be our first time implementing DREAMS in Kenya.

3. DREAMS to expand to Tanzania and the Ethiopian Highlands

Late in the year, Village Enterprise and Mercy Corps learned that DREAMS received funding to expand to Tanzania and the highlands of Ethiopia starting early 2024. In Tanzania, DREAMS will serve naturalized refugees. In the highlands of Ethiopia, the program will work with communities living in extreme poverty. In both countries, Village Enterprise will provide technical assistance to local organizations to implement our poverty graduation model.

Pictured above is the Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement in northern Uganda where DREAMS was first launched. Photo credit: Ezra Millstein for Mercy Corps.

4. Partnered with the Government of Rwanda to scale poverty graduation

In November, USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) awarded $6.5 million to Village Enterprise, which was DIV’s largest grant in the past decade and their second largest ever. With this funding, Village Enterprise will work with the Government of Rwanda to adopt, implement, and scale our poverty graduation program across Rwanda. This will support one million Rwandans to move out of extreme poverty by 2027, with the ultimate goal of ending extreme poverty in Rwanda by 2030.

5. Launched DREAMS for Refugees in Ethiopia

In partnership with Mercy Corps and with funding from the IKEA Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Village Enterprise officially launched DREAMS for Refugees in the Dollo Ado region of Ethiopia. The first cohort of 1,200 entrepreneurs from the Kobe, Hilaweyn, and Melkadida refugee settlements launched their businesses in December and are projected to graduate from our program in the spring of 2024. The launch of DREAMS in Ethiopia builds off the program’s success in refugee settlements in Uganda. 

Photo credit: Ezra Millstein for Mercy Corps

6. Revolutionized microbusiness development in rural Africa through digital solutions

In partnership with DreamStart Labs, Village Enterprise piloted the DreamSave app within 12 communities across Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda this past year. DreamSave assists business savings groups in securely and accurately storing their savings records on mobile phones instead of in paper books. This pilot has been so effective and exciting for participants—saving them time and encouraging them to increase their savings—that we are planning to implement it in every Village Enterprise business savings group by 2025!

7. MacKenzie Scott’s transformational gift

In March, philanthropist and author MacKenzie Scott donated $7 million to Village Enterprise—the largest single unrestricted gift in our organization’s history. Her gift is not only a testament to our mission and vision, but it will be a cornerstone of our efforts to end extreme poverty and build climate resilience for 20 million people by 2030.

8. Won Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Award for building refugee self-reliance

In May, DREAMS for Refugees won Fast Company’s 2023 World Changing Ideas Award for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. This innovative approach to poverty alleviation combines Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation program with Mercy Corps’ expertise in market systems development. By combining these two proven approaches, DREAMS supports refugees to build economic self-reliance as they graduate out of extreme poverty and rebuild their lives. Since May, DREAMS has also been featured in Fortune and BBC Business Matters (starting at 27:16).

Photo credit: Jjumba Martin for Mercy Corps

9. Increased proximate leadership on our Board of Directors

Village Enterprise welcomed four dynamic African leaders to our Board of Directors in 2023: Ermias Eshetu, Michael Mithika, Evelyn Namara, and Alexis Rwabizambuga. All four members, along with Serah Kimani who joined our board during the summer of 2022, live in our countries of operation. As a result, 44% of our board is African, emphasizing Village Enterprise’s commitment to having proximate leadership at all levels of our organization.

10. Village Enterprise’s transformative work recognized by Stanford University

In June, Village Enterprise CEO and President Dianne Calvi was awarded the President’s Award for the Advancement of the Common Good from Stanford University. This honor recognizes Stanford alumni who have positively and sustainably changed the trajectory of people’s lives in their communities and around the world, and it is a testament to the transformative impact Village Enterprise has had on ending extreme poverty in Africa.

We’re thrilled at all that we accomplished in 2023 thanks to your steadfast support and the hard work of our stunning team. We can’t wait to go even further together in 2024!

The post Ten of Our Greatest Accomplishments from 2023 appeared first on Village Enterprise.

SAN CARLOS, Calif., December 13, 2023 — A new program that trains refugees, displaced by the Somali civil war, to become entrepreneurs and start their own small businesses has launched within the Kobe, Hilaweyn, and Melkadida refugee camps in Ethiopia.

Village Enterprise, the nonprofit seeking to end extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship, innovation, and collective action, is expanding its DREAMS for Refugees program following success in refugee settlements in Uganda.

DREAMS (Delivering Resilient Enterprises and Market Systems) for Refugees is a partnership that merges Village Enterprise’s poverty graduation program with Mercy Corps’ expertise in market systems development to equip refugees with the skills, resources, and market-linkages to start sustainable businesses and graduate from extreme poverty. DREAMS has been operating in Uganda since 2022, and the expansion to Ethiopia is supported by donations from the IKEA Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

DREAMS will impact more than 200,000 lives in Ethiopia and Uganda. Photo credit: Ezra Millstein for Mercy Corps.

The Kobe, Hilaweyn, and Melkadida refugee camps are located near the southern border of Ethiopia and home to approximately 130,000 refugees. As DREAMS launches in Ethiopia, it is providing the first cohort of 1,200 refugee entrepreneurs living in extreme poverty with seed funding of $500 to start their own businesses. Having fled war in Somalia, with little prospect of being able to return, the first-time entrepreneurs are also receiving comprehensive training delivered by Village Enterprise’s expert business mentors. Over a nine week training course, the entrepreneurs develop skills such as financial literacy, bookkeeping, and creating business plans to support them to launch their enterprises.

In Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement and Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement in Uganda, DREAMS has trained 4,800 entrepreneurs to date. Working in groups of three, these first-time entrepreneurs have launched successful businesses in areas such as retail, livestock, and agriculture. In total across both Uganda and Ethiopia, DREAMS will reach more than 33,000 households and impact more than 200,000 lives.

The DREAMS model is aiming to transform refugee relief. Traditional support for refugees is based on providing basic subsistence, such as food rations or shelter, rather than creating opportunities for people to become self-reliant. DREAMS won the Larsen Lam ICONIQ Impact Award for Refugees in 2021 and is part of Village Enterprise’s broader goal of lifting 20 million people in rural Africa out of extreme poverty by 2030.

With 400 million people in Africa now living in extreme poverty, poverty alleviation solutions that work are more important than ever. Refugees are facing more acute challenges than at any other point since World War II, with approximately 6.6 million refugees living in camps globally. What are initially established as temporary measures to accommodate an influx of people seeking a safe haven, refugee camps often become protracted settlements.

Dianne Calvi, CEO and President of Village Enterprise, said:
“The expansion of DREAMS into Ethiopia is a great step forward in addressing two of the biggest challenges facing the world today—forced displacement and extreme poverty. With refugee numbers at record levels, as well as increases in food prices and decreases in aid budgets, it’s more important than ever that we are providing sustainable solutions and equipping refugees with the training, resources, and markets to become self-reliant.

We are proud that this program will help empower so many refugees in Ethiopia to rebuild their lives, and in partnership with Mercy Corps, we’re looking for more foundations and individuals to join us so that DREAMS can reach even more vulnerable families and communities across Africa.”

Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, CEO of Mercy Corps, said: “As conflicts around the world become more complex and protracted, displacement is now measured in decades rather than months or years. The system that was designed to provide urgent, lifesaving assistance in response to short-term displacement has struggled to serve millions of refugees who have put their aspirations on hold. Refugees deserve better. We’re thrilled to expand DREAMS to Ethiopia in partnership with Village Enterprise and to support refugees and the communities in which they live to thrive.”

Per Heggenes, CEO of the IKEA Foundation, said: “People who are forced to flee need the chance to rebuild their lives so they can support themselves and their families. We’ve seen firsthand that refugees have extraordinary talent and drive. We’re proud to support DREAMS to empower these communities to find pathways toward economic self-reliance.”

Barri Shorey, Senior Program Officer, Refugees at the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, said: “We’re thrilled to support the expansion of the DREAMS program for refugees and host communities in Ethiopia. This partnership between Village Enterprise and Mercy Corps targets families who have been displaced from their homes and supports them on their challenging journeys to financial security. In a time of increasing and longer-term displacement, we are excited to invest in solutions that support refugee households to actually envision and build a healthy and productive future for themselves and their children.”

Media enquiries:
Village Enterprise – villageenterprise@wearesevenhills.com

About Village Enterprise
Village Enterprise’s mission is to end extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship, innovation, and collective action. We work with vulnerable women, refugees, and youth who are most impacted by climate change, conflict, and displacement, and equip them with skills and resources to launch climate-smart businesses, build savings, and put themselves and their families onto a sustainable path out of extreme poverty. Village Enterprise has started over 80,000 businesses, trained over 274,000 first-time entrepreneurs, and positively transformed the lives of over 1,656,000 people in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Mozambique, and Tanzania. Learn more at villageenterprise.org.

About Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is a global team of nearly 6,000 humanitarians working to create a world where everyone can prosper. In more than 40 countries affected by crisis, disaster, poverty and climate change we work alongside communities, local governments, forward-thinking corporations and social entrepreneurs to meet urgent needs and develop long-term solutions to make lasting change possible. Learn more at www.mercycorps.org.

About the IKEA Foundation
The IKEA Foundation is a strategic philanthropy that focuses its grant making efforts on tackling the two biggest threats to children’s futures: poverty and climate change. It currently grants more than €200 million per year to help improve family incomes and quality of life while protecting the planet from climate change. Since 2009, the IKEA Foundation has granted more than €1.5 billion to create a better future for children and their families.

In 2021 the Board of the IKEA Foundation decided to make an additional €1 billion available over the next five years to accelerate the reduction of Greenhouse Gas emissions.

Learn more at: www.ikeafoundation.org or by following them on LinkedIn or Twitter.

About the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
International hotelier Conrad N. Hilton established the grantmaking foundation that bears his name in 1944 to help people living in poverty and experiencing disadvantage worldwide. Today, the work continues, concentrating on efforts to ensure healthy early childhood development and sustainable livelihoods for youth, support young people transitioning out of foster care, improve access to housing and support services for people experiencing homelessness, identify solutions to safe water access, and lift the work of Catholic sisters. Additionally, following selection by an independent, international jury, the Foundation annually awards the $2.5 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize to an organization doing extraordinary work to reduce human suffering. The Foundation is one of the world’s largest, with approximately $6.7 billion in assets. It has awarded grants to date totaling more than $3 billion, $435 million worldwide in 2022. Please visit www.hiltonfoundation.org for more information.

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