Youth for Social Entrepreneurship (Y4SE) is a program that focuses on upskilling in social entrepreneurship and promoting establishment and growth of start-ups. The program spans from offering life skills, technical skills and social enterprise development skills to youth in last miles and consequently linking them to available incubators, accelerators, and investment opportunities.
Due to social constraints and stereotyping, women are particularly excluded from ICT related careers. Additionally, the few women who pursue such careers remain unemployed or underpaid compared to their male counterparts. The Digilabs Project seeks to address the socio-economic barriers to entry into the labor market for young women in rural Kenya. We do this by leveraging the power of information and communication technology (ICT) and associated benefits. Digilabs are Integrated Resource Centers that advance digital literacy and promote ideas for start-ups and scale ups.
Our model is conducting activation workshops, business development training, mentorship and linkage to financing or incubating partners. We leverage on building young community champions resulting in young leaders driving social change at the grassroots. To overcome the roadblock of a lacking startup funds, we have a kitty and this program called DigiFund that gives capital as a seed fund to most promising alumni of DigiLab
Established a centre at HELGA, a local organization advocating access to education for girls under threat of Female Genital Mutilation and Early Marriages.
Empowered 76 Youth with Leadership Skills Through HELGA Centre after furnishing the center with digital equipment: 13 computers, camera, internet.
Launched 30 Social Enterprises,9 participants gained employment, 1 talent group initiated, 23 advanced education.
European Union- Mladiinfo International, MIT-Dlab, Global Philanthropy Alliance, Bunifu Technologies, Cypher Africa, Chandaria Business Innovation and Incubation Center, Startup Wave, County Governments.
The Grassroots Entrepreneurs Summit brings together national and regional social enterprise stakeholders—private sector and public sector actors, technologists, entrepreneurs, scientists, members of academia, seed investors, and other innovators—to collaboratively generate solutions in critical areas of entrepreneurship ecosystems, education, and policy creation, with the overall aim of fostering the participation of youth and women in social entrepreneurship, particularly those from underserved communities.
The Grassroots Entrepreneurs Summit brings together national and regional social enterprise stakeholders—private sector and public sector actors, technologists, entrepreneurs, scientists, members of academia, seed investors, and other innovators—to collaboratively generate solutions in critical areas of entrepreneurship ecosystems, education, and policy creation, with the overall aim of fostering the participation of youth and women in social entrepreneurship, particularly those from underserved communities.
Participated in the MIT-DLab Innovation Ecosystem Builder Fellows 2018. From this fellowship, EmpServe received a matching grant to improve DigiLab in Kajiado.
Held first ever Grassroot Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2018 held at Kenyatta University that pulled over 100 participants with key stakeholders from the government, private sector and development space.
Social entrepreneurship can help clearly define the economic, social, and environmental challenges grassroot communities face, craft self-sustaining solutions and mobilize resources to implement them. Data indicates a huge gap between the urban and last mile social enterprise ecosystems. 82% network accelerators are based in Nairobi, and the remaining structures have an international focus. 60% of social enterprises are based in Nairobi. Grassroot communities experience unique challenges linked to geographical remoteness, low penetration of supporting infrastructure, a lack of supportive initiatives, and limited and difficult markets.
EmpServe Kenya has helped to federate ecosystem players through the annual summit helping unlock the huge potential of grassroots social entrepreneurs. GES2018 was hosted at Kenyatta University on September 19, 2018 in partnership with MIT DLab and Chandaria Business Innovation and Incubation Centre (CBIIC). The goal of EmpServe’s first GES was to bring together social entrepreneurs and key stakeholders to discuss the challenges and opportunities of social entrepreneurship and to chart a path for future summits. The summit, which included a town hall discussion, brought together actors from all sectors and covered a range of key issues.
GES2019 was hosted by EmpServe Kenya on September 19, 2019 in partnership with the Chandaria Business & Incubation Centre of Kenyatta University and W4 (Women’s WorldWide Web), a global leader in women’s empowerment.
The objective of GES2019 was to build on the lessons learned at the inaugural GES2018 and to focus explicitly on women’s social entrepreneurship. The theme of GES2019 was:
“Demystifying the place of women social entrepreneurs in driving social change.”
Chandaria Business Innovation and Incubation Center, Kenyatta University, W4 (Women’s WorldWide Web) and MIT-DLab.