The UBC Sauder School of Business’s Social Enterprise Program (SSE Kenya) is sharing vital knowledge and expertise to improve lives and reduce unemployment rates across impoverished communities in Kenya. The Program has recently formed an alliance with One Girl Can, a non-profit based in Vancouver and Nairobi, Kenya to provide entrepreneurial training workshops for girls and young women living in extreme poverty.
Through this partnership, an enthusiastic group of Sauder students and alumni will impart business skills in form of entrepreneurship training workshops, teaching young women how to use their skills and interests to start small businesses while building their business knowledge, allowing them to earn a living and become financially independent.
SSE-Kenya program director Jeff Kroeker says, “Partnering with One Girl Can will allow us to scale up UBC Sauder’s successful model of social enterprise training, making it accessible to more young women in Kenya and empowering them to jumpstart their business ideas and become leaders within their communities.”
One Girl Can participants can take inspiration from former SSE-Kenya students, like Rachel Bosire, who have leveraged the skills gained in the program to support themselves and have an impact on their communities. For Bosire, participating in SSE-Kenya in 2019 gave her the skills to launch Beadswork, a business selling hand-sewn home accessories. In late spring of 2020, the SSE-Kenya community partnered with Bosire and other SSE-Kenya entrepreneurs to produce face masks to fight COVID-19 as well as producing household disinfectant. “Participating in SSE-Kenya has been a blessing to me, my business and my community too. I acquired knowledge to better my business and all the necessary tools needed to succeed.”
Read the full story at the UBC Sauder School of Business website.
Through Strategy 19: Global Networks, UBC is expanding its outreach and making meaningful impact across communities throughout the world.