Project Baobab provides free education and entrepreneurial grants to youth, especially women, through a specialized life skills and business curriculum in Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

, a country of 40% unemployment with 58% of the people living below a $2 a day. Upon graduation, students compete for $100 grants to fund their business idea. Project Baobab currently operates in 5 communities: Meru

Meru, Kenya

-Transport:The City of Meru is linked to Nairobi by a paved road, whether from the south around the east side of Mount Kenya, via Embu, or from the northwest around the west and north side of Mount Kenya, via Nanyuki and Timau....

, Githunguri, Naivasha

Naivasha

Naivasha is a market town in Rift Valley Province, Kenya, lying north west of Nairobi. It is located on the shore of Lake Naivasha and along the Nairobi - Nakuru highway and Uganda Railway.Naivasha is part of the Nakuru District...

, Mai Mahiu

Mai Mahiu

Maai Mahiu is a settlement in Kenya's Rift Valley Province....

, and Olooseos.

An impact evaluation of Project Baobab showed that, within a four-year period, approximately 50 percent of the
grantees were running businesses with good-to-marginal success. The Project is labeled by World Bank reports as emerging evidence for the efficacy of Pilot self-employment programs.

History

Since 2001, Project Baobab has educated over 1000 students and funded approximately 300 new business ventures.

Project Baobab was founded by Gee Gee Williams, a woman from Palo Alto, California who went to Kenya for a safari trip in 1996. She later returned to the United States and began to build Project Baobab.

In Project Baobab's first year, the program was launched in four schools. Six teachers were trained with an entrepreneurship curriculum developed by GEP and it was mostly successful.
However, the girls in the program were found to lack the confidence and self-esteem to present their ideas. This led to the development of a "Life Skills" course, where girls receive training on gender empowerment, decision making, assertiveness, communications, and AIDS awareness. This model proved to be successful, and since 2001, both Life and Entrepreneurial Skills have been taught to over 1000 students.

In 2006 the project became partnered with Technoserve, and along with help from the Nike Foundation, expanded the number of program sites by eleven. In 2008, the direction of the project changed to target youth in rural communities rather than high school students.

Curriculum: Life and Entrepreneurial skills

Project Baobab educates youth with useful skills to start a small business. This includes not only business training but also skills to build self esteem and confidence.

The curriculum is taught in two parts: 1) Life Skills and 2) Entrepreneurship Skills. These classes are currently offered in 5 community-based sites with the goal of graduating 300 students by the end of 2009.

Life Skills

In the Life skills portion of the curriculum, students learn about issues of gender empowerment, decision-making, assertiveness, communication, AIDS awareness / prevention, and reducing stigmatizing behavior associated with AIDS survivors.

Teachers are encouraged to tailor this portion of the curriculum to meet their students' specific needs. For example, in the Maasai community, students have specific gender obstacles to face with their husbands, and teachers have emphasized the family communication techniques to encourage more open dialogue.

Entrepreneurial Skills

In the Entrepreneurship portion of the curriculum, the students learn small business start-up skills where they are empowered with knowledge and skills to become effective entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is often the only option these students will have to achieve some level of economic independence. The curriculum provides students with the tools and guidance to plan, implement, and manage a small business in their community. Topics include budgeting, marketing, accounting, stock control and inventory, risk management, legal issues, and business ethics, among others.

Grants

Upon completion of the course, graduating students prepare business plans and are given the opportunity to present those businesses plans before a committee of faculty, local business owners, and Project Baobab staff. Selected students then receive micro-grants of $100 to help start their businesses.

Some examples of the types of businesses started are: zero grazing small scale cow, goat, pig, or bull rearing; fresh fruit and vegetable stands; beaded jewelry and other artisan crafts; mutumba (repairing and selling used clothing) bakeries, and vegetable farming.

Mentoring

Upon receiving a grant, each graduate is assigned a mentor, a Kenyan woman who will follow up with them approximately every 2–3 months to provide support and accountability. Mentors are trained in areas of specific business knowledge, as well as soft skills such as life guidance and empowerment. The mentoring program also helps to measure the number of successful businesses. Those who did not receive grants are also mentored to encourage them to make use of the knowledge from the course.

Project Baobab Sites

Project Baobab is working on 5 community sites: Meru, Githunguri, Naivasha, Mai, Mahiu and Olooseos. Currently, there are 150 students enrolled and over 1,000 graduates since inception.

In 2008 the project graduated the last group of high school students who took the Project Baobab curriculum at their secondary schools. The project discontinued work in high school to focus on rural communities.

Some of the places where Project Baobab has worked in the past include:

* Karima Girls School
* Kinjo Girls School
* Maasai Girls School
* Miguta Community
* Oloshoi-bor Community (in partnership with MWEEP-Maasai Women Education and Empowerment)
* Ngara Girls School
* Olooseos Secondary School
* Olooseos Community
* Ruiga Girls School
* Naivasha, Gilgil and Maimahiu Communities (in partnership with Lifebloom Services International)
* Langata Women's Prison

In addition, Project Baobab partnered with Technoserve in 2006 for programs in:

* Juja Community Class
* Ziwani Community
* Kibagare Community
* Kibera Community
* Mukura Fuata Nyayo Community
* Huruma Community
* Githurai Community
* Kariobangi Community
* Kangari Polytechnic Community
* Ikumbi Secondary School
* Gurec Secondary School
* Githunguri Secondary School
* Brother Beausang Secondary School
* Broadways Secondary School

Funding

Project Baobab is a 501-C-(3) non-profit organization

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

[EIN #02-0532299], which allows them to receive donations from foundations and private donors, as well as to distribute funds directly to student beneficiaries. They have recently received grants from:

*Friends of Kenya
*The Global Fund for Women
*The Hurlbut-Johnson Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation
*Juniper Networks Foundation Fund
*Nike Foundation (via a partnership with Technoserve)
*The West Foundation


60% of all funding for Project Baobab comes from individual donors and 40% from foundations and organizations. Approximately 63% of monies go directly to help women and youth. Program development, evaluation and administrative expenses form the rest of our budget.

Partners

Technoserve is a nonprofit organization that provides business solutions to entrepreneurs in rural areas worldwide. Project Baobab and Technoserve formed a partnership in June 2006 with the aim of fostering an entrepreneurial culture among Kenyan youth. Through this partnership and the help of a grant from Nike Foundation, Project Baobab expanded to an additional eleven sites (five schools and six community programs).

Board of Directors

* Peter Carpenter

* Maggie Kamau

* Zain Khan (Chair)

* Francis Kihanya

* Wambui Kihanya

* Colleen McLaughlin

* Jeanne Moulton

* Hassan Bashir

* Gee Gee Williams

Advisory Council

* Mrs. Lucy Gitonga

* Prof. Peter Kibas

* Mr. Sammy Kiguru

* Dr. David Ndii

* Mrs. Suzanne Redfern-West (Council-Board Liaison)

* Mr. Samuel Waweru