From Cherehani, we are covering the $42 billion funding deficit for women-led SMEs in sub-Saharan Africa. We reduce the barriers for women entrepreneurs to access capital by combining the social elements of finance with financial technology (fintech) to provide working capital and funding for water deposits to women entrepreneurs, especially those in rural areas. We believe that for African women, financial services are most effective when delivered within a supportive social network. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What specific challenges do women entrepreneurs face in Africa, and how does Cherehani Africa work to address them? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sub-Saharan Africa stands out globally for having a higher number of women entrepreneurs; however, a staggering funding deficit hinders their growth. This lack of access to credit is due to two fundamental challenges:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cherehani addresses these obstacles faced by African women entrepreneurs by offering collateral-free business loans of between $100 and $1,500 to women who are members of registered savings groups. This model eliminates the need for collateral and leverages the power of community. Furthermore, we finance water tanks so that our clients can mitigate the effects of climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond access to capital, we empower our clients through financial training courses. These trainings equip our clients with the skills and knowledge to utilise their resources effectively. Cherehani offers business loans, water deposit financing, and financial training to women entrepreneurs who work and live in rural areas. Cherehani Africa tiene varios programas e iniciativas dise\u00f1ados espec\u00edficamente para apoyar a las empresarias africanas. Estos incluyen:\n\n* **Programa de Incubaci\u00f3n y Aceleraci\u00f3n:** Este programa proporciona a las empresarias mentor\u00eda, formaci\u00f3n empresarial, acceso a redes y financiaci\u00f3n inicial para ayudarles a lanzar y hacer crecer sus negocios.\n* **Financiaci\u00f3n y Microcr\u00e9ditos:** Cherehani Africa ofrece acceso a financiaci\u00f3n, incluyendo microcr\u00e9ditos y otras opciones de financiaci\u00f3n adaptadas a las necesidades de las peque\u00f1as y medianas empresas dirigidas por mujeres.\n* **Formaci\u00f3n y Desarrollo de Capacidades:** Se imparten talleres y programas de formaci\u00f3n en \u00e1reas como finanzas, marketing, liderazgo y gesti\u00f3n para empoderar a las empresarias con las habilidades necesarias para tener \u00e9xito.\n* **Creaci\u00f3n de Redes y Comunidad:** La organizaci\u00f3n facilita oportunidades para que las empresarias se conecten entre s\u00ed, compartan experiencias, colaboren y creen una red de apoyo s\u00f3lida.\n* **Plataformas de Mercado:** Cherehani Africa a menudo proporciona plataformas o ayuda a las empresarias a acceder a mercados, tanto locales como internacionales, para vender sus productos y servicios.\n* **Iniciativas de Defensa y Promoci\u00f3n:** Trabajan para abogar por pol\u00edticas que apoyen a las mujeres en los negocios y aborden los obst\u00e1culos espec\u00edficos a los que se enfrentan las empresarias en \u00c1frica.\n\nEl objetivo general es aumentar la participaci\u00f3n de las mujeres en la econom\u00eda y fortalecer sus negocios.<\/strong> <\/strong> Can you give us examples of women entrepreneurs who have received support from Cherehani Africa and have had a significant impact on their communities?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Alice Nakhungu Makari, chairwoman of the Bosio Central Women Group, is one of the most successful entrepreneurs within the initiatives promoted by Cherehani. In 2019, Alice joined Cherehani and received her first loan of $50 to buy supplies for her restaurant. She repaid her loan within six months, which allowed her to access a larger loan of $250. To date, Alice has obtained over $1100 in funding from Cherehani, which has enabled her not only to triple her restaurant's capacity but also to expand her activities with the purchase of livestock and the start-up of a brick-making business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0 KINDU B WOMEN GROUP is in Nyanza Central, Rarieda.<\/strong>\u00a0There are ten women, all of whom are keeping up with their loan repayments. Eight of them are involved in the vegetable and grain trade, one runs a retail shop and another is a fishmonger. The group is in its second loan cycle and has a balance of 872 $. Each member received an equal loan of 67 $. Cherehani addresses two key barriers hindering the financial inclusion of women entrepreneurs in rural Africa:<\/p>\n\n\n\n What role do training and skills development play in the economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs in Africa? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Our clients' financial well-being is key to our operational strategy. We provide in-person and mobile financial training to our clients to equip them with the necessary skills to use their credit productively. At the savings group level, our clients engage in peer-to-peer discussions on social and economic challenges and opportunities to share learnings through their lived experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do women entrepreneurs connect with mentors and support networks through Cherehani Africa's programmes?<\/strong> <\/strong> Furthermore, we leverage alliances with investors and business development companies to tailor specific initiatives in healthcare, nutrition, insurance, sanitation, and education, to provide our clients with information that allows them to make decisions about their household issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The main economic and social benefits of fostering female entrepreneurship in Africa include: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Investing in women entrepreneurs creates jobs in sectors that are critical to our economies. Studies show that women spend 90% of their income on the household and that an increase in household income leads to better education for the children in women\u2019s care and better healthcare for their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How does Cherehani Africa incorporate a gender perspective into all its areas of work, beyond direct support to entrepreneurs? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 50% of our senior managers at Cherehani are women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which other success stories of female entrepreneurs have been particularly inspiring to Cherehani? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Brigid Kituyi runs a private primary school with 300 pupils in the rural area of Bungoma. She used to spend more than $150 a month buying water from private vendors in the neighbouring village. The school urgently needed a water tank, but its budget did not allow it to purchase a 12,000-litre tank outright. After tirelessly visiting various financial institutions without success, Brigid turned to Cherehani to finance the water tank. Our financing enabled Brigid to purchase a 12,000-litre water tank with affordable monthly instalments of 81 $. Brigid is currently working to utilise our financing solution to purchase three (3) further tanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Insurance and financial well-being: The majority of our clients lack the necessary financial cushion to absorb financial shocks. Emergencies periodically set back the economic achievements of women entrepreneurs in rural areas. At Cherehani, we aim to work with our clients to safeguard their economic achievements and enable them to build sustainable wealth for their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Health and sanitation: our customers spend a significant portion of their income on resolving health complications caused by sanitation issues. We are testing sanitation products to reduce this expenditure and free up more income for our customers to invest in productive activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Climate change: Climate change continues to disproportionately affect women in rural areas. We are working on a line of climate change mitigation products so that our customers can face these challenges.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Su compromiso radica en impulsar el empoderamiento econ\u00f3mico, fomentar la innovaci\u00f3n y promover la igualdad de g\u00e9nero. A lo largo de esta entrevista podr\u00e1s conocer m\u00e1s en profundidad lo que hacen. \u00bfCu\u00e1l es el enfoque de Cherehani \u00c1frica en relaci\u00f3n con el emprendimiento femenino en \u00c1frica? Desde Cherehani estamos cubriendo el d\u00e9ficit de financiaci\u00f3n de […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-post"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7090,"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7088\/revisions\/7090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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Cherehani was founded to meet the specific financing needs of women entrepreneurs in rural areas. Our model is centred on women\u2019s groups, utilising peer monitoring and selection to provide vital financial services. 94% of our clients are women entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Cherehani\"](\"https:\/\/www.openvaluefoundation.org\/images\/Cherehani.jpg\")
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How do you address the cultural and social barriers that can hinder the progress of women entrepreneurs in certain African communities?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
We provide peer-to-peer learning opportunities within our clients' savings groups, connecting young women entrepreneurs with seasoned businesswomen so they can learn from their business journeys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What are the future challenges facing women entrepreneurs in Africa and how do you plan to address them as an organisation?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n