Ending poverty through social enterprise in Kenya, Ruanda & Uganda

The Stuttgart-based Stay Foundation fights poverty through business and builds sustainable structures in the areas of income, health and education: "Stay - development that lasts!“ To this end, Stay supports business start-ups, farmers and micro-enterprises from the target group "The Capable Poor" with know-how and start-up capital. The Capable Poor are poor women, men and children who live in poverty, but are extremely willing to learn and perform, creative and committed to free themselves from poverty. To reach the Capable Poors, Stay uses a network of local social entrepreneurs in Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda. All decisions are made by the local social entrepreneurs - not by Western development workers.

STAY - Stiftung für multiplikative Entwicklung

Local promoter

Stay Alliances Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda

In order to reach as many people as possible efficiently, the Stay Foundation builds on already existing local structures. Initially, successful East African social entrepreneurs who have already worked with the Capable Poors will be networked. This is done by founding the “Stay Alliance”, a social entrepreneurs’ association. This currently comprises 80 social entrepreneurs and their organisations in three countries. In a second step, the Stay Alliance will standardize the best concepts for combating poverty of individual social entrepreneurs. Subsequently, all 80 social entrepreneurs can use the concepts from the pool of their Stay Alliances free of charge. Each of these concepts is also structured to be financially sustainable.

An independent external controlling system is used to evaluate all activities in terms of the efficiency and effectiveness achieved. This transnational monitoring and control process leads to maximum efficiency of the “invested” financial resources (donations + impact investing capital) through very high transparency and thus also prevents corruption.

Project

After the knodel foundation has financed the foundation and development of the Stay Alliance in Kenya since 2018, the project and organisational development of the Stay Alliances in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda will be supported in the coming years. The focus will be on the development of the “Stay Alliance Programme”. Stay Alliance Programmes are standardised, financially sustainable concepts for poverty reduction, which can be used free of charge by all social entrepreneurs. Adapted to the local economic structures, the Stay Alliance Programmes initially concentrate on agriculture, e.g. beekeeping, organic grain cultivation, bio-gas backpacks, tree plantations, etc. The portfolio is supplemented by programmes in the areas of education and health.

Other projects

African startups create new income opportunities for smallholders

The “MOTHERLAND” initiative, functioning as an “Ecosystem Orchestrator,” addresses the critical issues faced by smallholder farmers in rural Africa. By partnering with carefully chosen local startups that offer innovative approaches and technologies, MOTHERLAND effectively resolves these issues.

Entrepreneurial solutions to address social and ecological Issues

Yunus Social Business promotes young social businesses that create jobs, products and services for disadvantaged population groups, therefore enabling them to overcome poverty.

A bridge between smallholder farmers and urban consumers

The social business “amar khamar” helps Indian smallholders to practice organic farming in a profitable way. In order to connect urban consumers directly with the smallholder farmers, it offers the sustainably produced products via its online platform.