EMPOWERING WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
IN THE DRYLANDS OF AFRICA
THE BOMA PROJECT is ending extreme poverty in Africa by unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit of women.
We empower women with the skills and confidence to start new businesses. They use their income to educate their children and keep them healthy. To fight the devastating impact of climate change. To become respected leaders in their patriarchal communities.
To become an entrepreneur in the truest sense of the term — challenge social norms and change the definition of what’s possible. LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR MODEL ›
MEET BOMA’s Entrepreneurs
Rose Lelesiit
Primary business: Convenience Store
“I did not know the importance of schooling my kids. But now I have enrolled all of them in schools. My community has always been made up of herders — but as BOMA participants, we have shown other women how business can be profitable.
I earlier had no phone, but now I own one and am eager daily to learn more about the phone applications.
In three years time I see myself owning a big retail shop.”
Grace Nakera Endnog
Primary business: Donut baker
“Before BOMA, I had to rely on “cash” work. I did things like making fences for cattle, washing clothes for other people, and selling charcoal. The work was tough on me, and the income was unpredictable. My life changed after a BOMA mentor taught me about running a business and saving up for emergencies. I began running a convenience store selling household staples like sugar, flour and oil.
My store suffered after COVID-19. I decided to change and enter a different business. I started making and selling mandazi donuts. There’s always something you can do. No matter, where you are or what you do, you have to be innovative.
INVISIBLE
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Jane Naimirdika
BOMA Mentor/Coach
“I joined BOMA in 2006, during Kenya’s worst drought in a decade. I started a business running a store with BOMA. The income helped my family and me survive the drought.
I decided to join BOMA as a mentor. Today, I mentor 150 women and help them start their own businesses. I spend nearly every day in the field.”
Holiya Eisimlebbe
Primary business: Livestock Trader
“Before when we did not have this business, we had no money and often had to go to bed hungry.
No project has ever given us hope like this one. The BOMA Project is exceptional. It is here, in our village. Our kids were starving. Now there is food to eat.
These other projects give you something for that moment and then go. This is something that will stay. This is something within us.”
Rose Lelesiit
Primary business: Convenience Store
“A while ago, I did not know the importance of schooling my kids. But now I have enrolled all of them in schools. My community has always been made of of herders. As BOMA participants we have shown other women how business can be profitable.
I earlier had no phone, but now I own one and am eager daily to learn more about the phone applications.
In three years time I see myself owning a big retail shop.”
Grace Nakera Endnog
Primary business: Convenience Store
“Before BOMA, I had to rely on “cash” work. I did things like making fences for cattle, washing clothes for other people, and selling charcoal. The work was tough on me, and the income was unpredictable. My life changed after a BOMA mentor taught me about running a business and saving up for emergencies. I began running a convenience store selling household stables like sugar, flour and oil.
My store suffered after COVID-19 but I decided to change and enter a different business. I started making and selling mandazi donuts. My customers aren’t coming to me. And so, I have started dropping off items like sugar at the homes of my customers. There’s always something you can do. No matter, where you are or what you do, you have to be innovative.
INVISIBLE
LOAD MORE
Jane Naimirdika
BOMA Mentor/Coach
“I joined BOMA in 2006, during Kenya’s worst drought in a decade. I started a business running a store with BOMA. The income helped my family and me survive the drought.
I decided to join BOMA as a mentor. Today, I mentor 150 women and help them start their own businesses. I spend nearly every day in the field.”
Holiya Eisimlebbe
Primary business: Livestock Trader
“Before when we did not have this business, we had no money and often had to go to bed hungry.
No project has ever given us hope like this one. The BOMA Project is exceptional. It is here, in our village. Our kids were starving. Now there is food to eat.
These other projects give you something for that moment and then go. This is something that will stay. This is something within us.”
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PHOTO ESSAY:
HOW BOMA’S WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS ARE BATTLING THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
The people of Northern Kenya were traditionally pastoralists. But climate change has reduced available pasture for grazing. Because they live in patriarchal societies, the women have little to no say in the management of their land and their livestock. With the BOMA Project, that’s changing. LEARN MORE ›
WHAT WE DO
We empower families that are so poor that they wouldn’t qualify for a microfinance loan. Families that don’t have access to mobile phones or bank accounts. Families that don’t have access to capital and markets.
BOMA’s Rural Entrepreneurship Access Program (REAP) “graduates” families out of poverty through a six-stage process:
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WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
We have had 30 years of government and donor funded projects in our country and have seen no changes in the levels of poverty. BOMA came here just 18 months ago with a pilot project and already we have seen close to 10,000 women and children move out of poverty.
Julius Leseetho, Deputy Governor, Samburu County
One of 19 winners of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Grand Challenge: Putting Women and Girls at the Center of Development
2018 EQUALS in Tech Awards Finalist given to organizations and people who are helping girls and women get equal access, skills and opportunities through technology.
Among the first four nonprofits worldwide to pass a rigorous “impact audit” conducted by Impact Matters to assess nonprofits in four key areas: cost-effectiveness, transparency, knowledge sharing, and “theory of change” (how well the organization accomplishes its mission).
OUR IMPACT SINCE 2009
women entrepreneurs
children's lives transformed
women and children to date reached
businesses launched
savings groups established
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