This time, however, I travelled with a more mature and, above all, more conscious outlook. Beyond the shortcomings, I started to see the other side: that of talent (which exists everywhere in the world, even if it sometimes seems like it's only in one place) and that of those who start ventures with fewer opportunities, but with admirable determination.
In countries like Kenya, entrepreneurs turn scarcity into ingenuity, hardship into drive, and uncertainty into courage.
We arrived at Nairobi With only a few hours of sleep, but with a great desire to visit the projects we support and put faces, names and stories to what we often only know through screens, reports or numbers.
Having just landed, we went to the rural area of Githunguri to visit Cherehani Africa, a local company that offers micro loans to women entrepreneurs in rural areas.
(Jane showing us her cows and explaining her business)
Cherehani has several lines of action. On the one hand, micro-credits that allow many women to start or grow their businesses. On the other, the sale of water tanks. And finally, the most recent project and the main reason for our visit: veterinary laboratories to provide assistance to farmers in inaccessible areas.
These laboratories analyse the quality of the milk and check that the cows are healthy, thereby ensuring that these people's incomes are sustainable. Something as simple as this has a huge impact on the farmers: knowing that their product is safe, that it meets standards, and that they can sell it with confidence and at a fair price. It is a further step towards stability and the professionalisation of their work. There we met Jane, a real all-rounder; she has single-handedly set up a farm with 8 cows and 9 calves. Her cows produce around 150 litres of milk a day, and she generates an income of nearly €2,000 a month. All of that has been possible thanks to a loan from Cherehani. Seeing it there, live, was a real learning experience because the impact stops being abstract; it's the life of a woman who now has independence, confidence and the possibility of a better future for her and her family.
We also took advantage of the trip to attend the AVPA Conference (“African Venture Philanthropy Alliance”), a network bringing together social investors and organisations that work on channelling impact capital into Africa. Furthermore, we had the privilege of sharing our knowledge and hearing from great experts during the session “Financing Resilience: Scaling Sustainable Agriculture and Health Solutions for West Africa’s Growth”.” which highlighted the importance of these sectors for the continent's development, and the role that tools such as “blended finance” or patient capital can play in scaling sustainable and resilient long-term solutions.
We visited the factory BURN Manufacturing, one of the main success stories we have within the company. We made the first R&D donations over 15 years ago, when they were still developing affordable electric and biomass stoves, of which they have sold over 4.5 million units. During this time, Open Value made loans through our partner Yunus Social Business And today, it is one of the invested companies of our sister management firm. Global Social Impact (GSI) and its African background.
The impact of BURN Manufacturing is reflected in lower household spending, improved health through reduced smoke in homes, and a positive effect on the environment. Visiting their factories today, seeing their scale and the dimension they have reached with a presence in 10 Sub-Saharan African countries, reminds us that impact, when accompanied by patience and long-term vision, multiplies.
The next day we left Nairobi to visit several schools on the outskirts of the city along with Ed Partners, one of the companies in which we have invested alongside our allies from ADEY Foundation. Ed Partners provides loans to schools through various products, comprehensively addressing the challenges in the education sector and contributing to improved educational quality and student well-being. We were fortunate to meet David, one of their co-founders, which allowed us to gain a better understanding of the realities faced by schools.
(They show us the tablets they were able to buy with the loan received from OVF)
We visited several affordable private schools (community organisations, cooperatives, etc.) with preschool, primary school, and the first year of secondary school; which cater for around 300 pupils and ensure they provide all the necessary services for children to grow up healthy and safe, regardless of their socioeconomic situation: breakfast and lunch; water and sanitation; transport home; sports and other extracurricular activities; etc.
Ed Partners' platform centralises financial management, communication with families and inventories, and is connected to banks, so that each payment made by families generates an automatic notification. Furthermore, the model is complemented by tablets that arrive in classrooms with school content preloaded, facilitating the digitisation process for schools.
During the tour, it became clear that for a school to run well, it is not enough to secure funding: good management by the leadership team, family involvement, and, as David emphasised, teacher motivation are key. Some schools support their teachers with incentives, facilities for their children's schooling, or loans for further training.
The last part of our trip took us to rural areas around Nyahururu, where we learned about the work of Plumbee, led by its founder, June. There poverty is more visible, but so is the ability of women to organise and get ahead.
Plumbee is a company dedicated to the production of nutritional food for school-aged children. It produces highly nutritious purees made from local products, especially pumpkins grown by women farmers. This model not only improves children's diets but also generates recurring income for the farmers, who receive training and access a formal market with high-value products.
A community of female farmers that Plumbee works with show us their home and give us a pumpkin as a token of their gratitude.
Squash cultivation has brought about a significant change: in less time, with greater resistance to the climate and higher nutritional value than other crops like maize or beans, women experience less financial stress and achieve stable incomes, which in turn leads to better child-rearing. In this female-led model, income is directly translated into well-being for the entire family.
Once again, this latest visit to Kenya has reminded us how important it is to know the people behind the companies we support; because they are the ones who give meaning to everything we do.
