Moving Money To Meaning – Enabling Micro Entrepreneurs

OUR PARTNER-MFI SUMAC

In 2020 Enabling Qapital provided USD 1.5mn to Sumac, a microfinance bank based in Kenya. The bank specializes in providing finance to both individuals and companies in the MSME segment by offering a variety of financial services. They have a large clientele within the agribusiness sector, who can profit from the Kilimo Biashara (agribusiness) loans. Through those, Sumac can disburse loans of up to ~USD 3,000 within 48 hours. Sumac also offers customers the Kawi loan product, targeting the provision of clean energy solutions to its customers.

RICHARD´S STORY

Richard is a small-scale dairy farmer based in Githunguri and a beneficiary of the Kilimo Biashara (agribusiness) product offered by Sumac. He started his journey with Sumac in 2015 when he started farming in Chuka (Meru County, Kenya) with five cows. Dairy farming in Chuka posed quite a few challenges, one of them being the low pricing of the products. In 2018, Sumac supported him with a scheme that allowed him to lease land in Githunguri, which is an area with much better pricing and readily available feed, making his farming business profitable again.

Through the relationship with Sumac, Richard has managed to grow his business to generate a monthly income of ~USD 4,800 from the high-quality milk of his 20 cows. His returns enabled him to build a house for his family and reinvest part of the proceeds into the business.

Richard intends to continue working with Sumac to further grow his business within the next years. He plans to acquire a bigger area of land, which would enable him to automate processes, to accommodate more cows and to grow his own feed. He is also planning to install a solar and biogas facility through Sumac’s Kawi loan product. This will allow him to generate additional value from the waste he produces from farming, reduce his power costs and generate additional income from selling the stored energy.