Environmental conservation through Ecotourism ventures.

This year we set out to promote ecotourism which is amongst the sustainable ventures that we promote. At the beginning of the year, we trained 5 women on safety while at the park and customer care service with the help of a team from the Kenya Wildlife Service. They are currently offering tour guiding services at the park a role that has always been dominated by men. In Order to achieve our objective of promoting investable ecotourism ventures, we enrolled 30 women who have businesses along the ecotourism value chain into a four-month incubation program.

Amongst the categories represented included: photograph, tour guiding, ornaments, hotel and accommodation, décor, jewelry, fashion and design, storytelling, crafts and curios, cycling.

Throughout the program, the women were taken, through a series of training by a certified coach to enable them to strengthen their businesses and place them in a more solid-state economically.  They can attract investors and partners interested in scaling up their businesses.

Amongst the key topics taught that will boost the creation of investible ventures included having legal documentation for their businesses, i.e. business registration, tax compliance, having bank payment systems. They also covered areas that could strengthen their internal operation and accelerate their business growth in the long run. The areas include business record keeping, drafting a business plan, lean canvas, javelin board. Through the trainer, they were also able to learn how to [pitch about the business a target area which they will need in order to sell their business ideas to anyone for possible investment.

The classes were a series of two virtual calls weekly in a composition of 15 participants every Friday and Wednesday. The virtual calls went on for three consecutive weeks, with the last Friday being a boot camp meeting, whereby the women met for a whole day learning session at the hub. We opted for virtual training since it was favorable due to the location of the participants which were drawn from Kisumu and siaya county. We also had to adhere to the ministry of health guidelines and limit in-person meetings.

During the boot camp, the woman always had a chance of exhibiting their products, and network amongst themselves, as they explore  future  possibilities of working together

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One thing that stands out forth products offered by the women incubates is that the products are crafted out of waste materials that could litter the environment. Other products are made from raw material that is locally available. Amongst the raw materials used includes; used tires, recycled bottles, pieces of clothes, water hyacinth, papyrus reed, fish bones, fish scales amongst others. Most of the businesses offering products are promoting conservation of the environment.

We also have businesses  that promote social justice,through spoken arts and perfomance.

The journey has been amazing and through WiseHub the women will have one website that will host their products with an aim of making more sales from the online platform.

The businesses have ensured these women have a source of livelihood and even offered employment to others.

The journey has been quite a success and we are looking forward to having the women for a demo day, where they will have a chance to pitch for their businesses. We will continue to monitor their growth and offer support where need be as we also connect them with opportunities.