Photo: Shedrack Musyoki
The recent visit by His Majesty (H.M.) King Charles III and Queen Camilla to Kenya brought to life potent reminiscent memories of a shared colonial past while highlighting the new era marked by close bilateral collaboration, development and mutual infusion of culture, skills, knowledge, and resources.
The visit also cast a light on the aspirations of the millions of Kenyan youths driving positive change and improving their economic prospects and those of their immediate communities. Over the period, a delegation led by H.M. King Charles and Prime Cabinet Secretary H.E. Musalia Mudavadi visited various youth initiatives and businesses across the country, shaping conversations around their role in development and growth.
These visits proved pertinent assets for showcasing CoELIB’s investments in the future of the youth and how such investments continue to bear fruit. Two CoELIB, Egerton University incubates - Sylvia Nyaga and Shadrack Musyoki - were among the promising Kenyan youth visited by the delegation.
The Business of Innovating and Creating
During the visit to the Climate Tech Showcase in Nairobi County, Kenya, H.M. King Charles and H.E. Musalia Mudavadi engaged with Sylvia Nyaga, CoELIB Incubate and CEO of Syna Consultancy, celebrating her innovation and commending her entrepreneurship approach. Syna Consultancy is a social enterprise that provides dignified and sustainable sanitation solutions to people living with disabilities and mobility challenges. Through CoELIB's seed investment and support of Sylvia’s dream, she can sustainably address accessibility and inclusivity challenges within the sanitation and hygiene space.
“I joined (CoELIB Incubar) in August 2018 with just an idea. I went through business training and coaching and eventually got my first grant (KES 65,000/=) to produce a prototype. I also got the chance to attend expos where I showcased my solution to potential clients and got feedback, all while increasing our visibility. In 2019, I also got a partial scholarship to study Social Innovation Management, a course that greatly helped me become the social innovator I am today.” Sylvia Nyaga – CEO Syna Consultancy
The Innovative enterprise has now grown to provide community development and empowerment consultancy services in inclusive water, sanitation and hygiene, disability sensitisation, awareness campaigns, advocacy strategies and corporate social responsibility services across Kenya.
Shadrack Musyoki (cover photo), the CEO of Sumbi Crafts, is another success case who received global recognition in Mombasa County. Shadrack is a creative entrepreneur specialising in paintings and concepts for enhanced living aesthetics. CoELIB has also provided invaluable entrepreneurial knowledge and incubation support to Shadrack, leading to the establishment and success of Sumbi Crafts.
Since joining the incubation program in 2018, Shadrack’s business model has continued to evolve to tackle the needs of clientele while maintaining the signature creative angle that defines Sumbi Crafts. He has progressively navigated the creative economy and strengthened his outfit as a global brand offering quality themed artistic work.
A Sustainable Approach to Business Incubation
These engagements underscore the positive impact of CoELIB’s concerted effort to build the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Kenya, offering youth entrepreneurs opportunities to transform their passions into sustainable businesses. The hub’s dynamic and progressive business development approach has seen over 3,500 startups and 7,500 youths trained and supported through its physical and virtual platforms that help them to develop sustainable business ventures during the critical start-up phase and beyond. The hub catalyses the flow of resources such as funding and knowledge between the entrepreneurs, the private sector, higher education institutions, the innovation ecosystem and communities.
“CoELIB's approach to incubation program is a delicate mix of services that nurture entrepreneurial behaviours among our incubates. We assist early-stage entrepreneurs with a service ecosystem that caters to all their business incubation needs. Such include entrepreneurial mindset capacity-building, business advisory, professional development services, low-cost utility resources, financial access support, lifelong learning, mentorship and growth programming, reintegration programs, and community for sustained growth.” Wilson Munene Karimi – Programmes Manager, CoELIB Project
Incubating Young African Leaders
CoELIB’s capacity and experience in incubation will be leveraged in the USAID-funded Young African Leadership Initiative Legacy Localization (YALI LL) assignment led by Arizona State University (ASU) and its implementing team of FHI360, CoELIB-Egerton University, Geeks Without Frontiers, and the African Diaspora Network.
YALI LL is a five-year, $ 80 million activity that will strengthen the capacity of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) to deliver transformative leadership training and experiences to young Africans in entrepreneurship, civic engagement, and public administration. CoELIB will scale up this innovative approach to incubation by working with the implementing team to sustain entrepreneurial development among other key objectives of 1) strengthened and harmonised YALI-Africa, 2) scaled and sustained leadership development and 3) increased alumni impact.
CoELIB brings into the consortium years of hands-on experience building the entrepreneurial and leadership capacities of youth, youth-focused, and youth-led organisations to solve systemic development challenges. As the only local partner within the consortium, CoELIB provides a rich African context for youth development. It shares resourceful experiences and practices from years of working with the youth to building their entrepreneurial capacities across the continent.
The hub will build the capacities of Regional Leadership Centers to trickle down incubation services to alumni and young leaders in training while providing the necessary institutional support to set up frameworks for early-stage business support, promoting partnerships, increasing access to finance and entrepreneur reintegration and alumni support services for innovative young Africans and across 49 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
“The CoELIB Project is a strategic service provider to entrepreneurs and the entrepreneur support ecosystem. We are a conduit for knowledge, capacities and competencies that enable the development of self-sustaining organisations and businesses that support long-term development. Appreciating our critical role in the entrepreneurial support ecosystem, we continue to reinvent ourselves to offer the best catalogue of services that address changing needs while appreciating the different contexts within which businesses operate across the continent.” Prof. Alexander Kahi, Director – CoELIB Project
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