Social Microenterprise Initiative - Kenya

ICRI - Africa
Consumer Trends
Nairobi, Kenya      
$50,000 2009

www.icriafrica.org
2009 SMI-Kenya Site Visit

SMI provides strictly capital equipment loans to small businesses and entrepreneurs and in developing countries. Unlike traditional microcredit models, SMI loan recipients pay back these interest-free loans not in profits, but by donating at least an equivalent amount of in-kind products and services to the disadvantaged in their communities (paying it forward, instead of back to the lender).

SMI loans target small businesses of less than 10 employees, which are typically too big for most microfinance institutions, yet too small to secure commercial bank capital. SMI entrepreneurs receive a capital equipment loan (typically valued at $1,000-$10,000 USD) that promotes productivity, growth, and job creation. Then they repay the loan amount, interest-free, with in-kind product or services (always valued at retail!) to the poor in their community.

For example, Loise Ndunge Mallei, owner of Maridadi HighTech Designers (pictured), received an SMI loan valued at $2,000 for modern, custom sewing machines that will enable her to expand her product line and hire additional employees. She will repay the loan by producing and donating school uniforms to the poorest children in her Nairobi community (in Kenya, uniforms are required to attend all types of primary schools, regardless of parents’ economic status, and many poor families simply cannot afford them). Her charitable payback will allow hundreds of poor children the opportunity to attend school for the first time.

 

In 2008 we completed an evaluation for our current SMI programs.  To view this document, please click the following link: 2008 SMI Evaluation. 

   You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view, download or print the PDF files.