Patron Cherie Blair visits Kenyan entrepreneurs

Yesterday I spent the day with SolarAid's new patron Cherie Blair. We visited the Kibera slums outside Nairobi and we involved her in the interview process for franchisees. Mrs Blair is visiting Kenya and Malawi to see how her Foundation (The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women) is working with SolarAid to unlock the economic potential of women where the need for access to energy is greatest. Mrs Blair came away extremely impressed by the work being done, but also very aware of the challenges involved in setting up enterprise operations in the poorest sectors of society.


Cherie Blair with Sunny Money Franchisee Romonah Omukhobero in Kibera. March 2010.

From my point of view, interviewing the franchisee candidates was another vivid reminder of the daily grind that most people here face just to survive, and of why we set up SolarAid as a response to this. All the candidates have experience of running their own small businesses (mainly vegetable stalls), but face serious challenges such as intense competition, poor quality produce and lack of working capital, which is why the Sunny Money programme is so interesting to them.

All in all, a successful week. There is still more to do of course, but it's encouraging to know we're certainly heading in the right direction.
Nick.