Venus Kenya SACCO Ltd: Microfinance and Empowering Women
Venus Kenya SACCO Ltd is one of the constituents IGAs at Common Ground for Africa (CGA). A seed fund provided by Bird + Stone (Elana Reinholtz) initiated this project under the name SiSi Fund. The name changed to Venus Kenya due the new regulations by the government. Venus Kenya SACCO Ltd works to end extreme poverty in Kenya through entrepreneurship and innovation, targeting women, youths, orphans, street youth, and single mothers.
Women and youth in particularly, continue to be the most marginalized groups in Kenya, largely due to the strong paternalistic practices and cultural attitudes. The girl child is at a disadvantage from the day she is born, a condition that persists well into adulthood. Access to credit from formal lending institutions is one of the critical areas where women and youths find themselves facing obstacles. Access to loans requires collateral and in Kenya, this collateral is usually land. When a woman is widowed, she traditionally does not inherit her husband’s land. Instead, the land, house and all of his possessions are “returned” to his brothers or other family members. Hereby, widows have no collateral to show the bank that they are deserving of accessing credit. With no credit, house, land or possessions, and often no, or minimal, formal education, widows struggle immensely in Kenya, often inheriting the impossible burden of paying school and medical fees in addition to feeding their children.
As a SACCO, Venus Kenya works with a number of community groups, each with about 30 active members. With funding from KUSCCO has worked with over 1100 youths in and outside Trans-Nzoia creating youth employment opportunities and promoting an entrepreneurship culture through structured and comprehensive support
We provide an array of services, all free of charge, to the community’s widows groups.
Objectives
Loan Products
Saving Products
Major activities
You can support this initiative by donating:
Women and youth in particularly, continue to be the most marginalized groups in Kenya, largely due to the strong paternalistic practices and cultural attitudes. The girl child is at a disadvantage from the day she is born, a condition that persists well into adulthood. Access to credit from formal lending institutions is one of the critical areas where women and youths find themselves facing obstacles. Access to loans requires collateral and in Kenya, this collateral is usually land. When a woman is widowed, she traditionally does not inherit her husband’s land. Instead, the land, house and all of his possessions are “returned” to his brothers or other family members. Hereby, widows have no collateral to show the bank that they are deserving of accessing credit. With no credit, house, land or possessions, and often no, or minimal, formal education, widows struggle immensely in Kenya, often inheriting the impossible burden of paying school and medical fees in addition to feeding their children.
As a SACCO, Venus Kenya works with a number of community groups, each with about 30 active members. With funding from KUSCCO has worked with over 1100 youths in and outside Trans-Nzoia creating youth employment opportunities and promoting an entrepreneurship culture through structured and comprehensive support
We provide an array of services, all free of charge, to the community’s widows groups.
- Mission - To end extreme poverty through entrepreneurship and innovation
- Vision – A country free of extreme poverty, where people have the economic means to sustain their families
- Goal – To serve people living in extreme poverty with respect, empathy and dignity regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion or education level, and value our common humanity
Objectives
- To encourage thrift among group members and individuals by affording them an opportunity for accumulating their savings
- To create a pool of funds for credit which be lent to qualified group members and individuals at fair and reasonable rates of interest.
- To provide an opportunity for each of its group members and individuals to improve his or her respective economic and social conditions.
- To introduce new products that will promote the economic base of the group members and individuals.
Loan Products
- Normal/development loan
- School fees loans
- Emergency loan
- Inuka / Imara loan
- Doss bikes
Saving Products
- Easy access savings accounts.
- Notice savings accounts.
- Regular saver accounts.
- Individual savings accounts (ISAs)
- Junior plan account
Major activities
- Client recruitment (Group & Individuals)
- Financial and business training management training
- Loan disbursement/risk management
- Loans management/recoveries
- CSI
- Reporting
- Sharing of best practices
- Graduation programmes
You can support this initiative by donating:
- Provided an individual loan of Kshs. 5000 (US$ 50).
- Group loans @ Kshs. 15000 (US$ 1500)
- Support group training @ Kshs. 7000 (US$70)
- Motorcycle@ Kshs. 121000 (US$1210)
