4G Capital: Empowering RefuSHE Artisans with Business Skills
RefuSHE’s Artisan Collective began as a small business collective for just a few refugee girls who wanted to join forces, learn a craft, and generate a dependable source of income. Since its formation in 2009, the Artisan Collective has become an integral part of RefuSHE’s holistic model. The program continues to encourage economic empowerment for refugee girls by fostering leadership and business management skills and producing hand-dyed scarves and textiles for sale.
Most recently, the Artisan Collective leveraged a partnership with 4G Capital, a fintech credit company working with Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), to deliver entrepreneurship training and mentorship to its artisans. The partnership kicked off in early 2021 when the young women were welcomed to one of the 4G Capital offices in Nairobi and trained on basic business principles. The artisans then participated in a Business Plan Competition, where successful applicants received apprenticeships with women entrepreneurs who were all clients of 4G Capital. This initiative provided learning opportunities for the girls to understand how business owners create their business plans, keep records, and manage capital. The positive outcomes from this pilot initiative led to a scaled launch of a much bigger project.
4G Capital rolled out a three-phased entrepreneurship program that involved an eight-week business training course, a business plan writing course, and a one-month mentorship with clients of the organization. The business course covered topics such as goal-setting, debt management, business record-keeping, customer service, budgeting, and more. After the successful completion of the course, the artisans were required to write a business plan. Girls who demonstrated high business acumen received seed grants to start their businesses as well as mentorship from experienced business owners.
In July 2022, the second cohort of the 4G Capital entrepreneurship program graduated after completing the first module of the entrepreneurship program. 4G Capital hosted a graduation ceremony at one of its branches and the graduates were presented with a certificate and gift bag. The team also offered the group bits of advice to encourage and motivate them in their entrepreneurship journey, assuring them of their continued support. The artisans are now in the second module of the program which will be followed up with mentorship support in the next few months!
Through our partnership with 4G Capital, RefuSHE can better economically empower young refugee women by providing them with the necessary skills to run a successful business and build a better future for themselves and their children. We are incredibly proud of the artisans enrolled in this unique program and can’t wait to see how they put their newfound knowledge and skills to use!