Achievements

Our Success

Since inception of SIFE UoN we have had much success in the SIFE competitions. Our best came in 2006 and 2007 when we were semi finalist in the SIFE World cup that were held in Paris, France and New York, USA respectively.

In the last SIFE year’s national competition we were first runners up to the eventual winners Kabarak University.

This year we undertook three projects; Taka ni pato in Githurai, Land of Plenty in Kibera and Promise for Future in Ndeiya. We took the 1^st runners position in the national competition to the eventual winners USIU, who will represent the country in Washington, USA for this year SIFE world cup.

SUMMARY OF THIS YEAR PROJECTS

·         Taka ni pato- we engaged a youth group CASE Foundation in Githurai involved in garbage collection from households. These were idle youths who undertook a responsibility to clean their environment to earn a living. They had inadequate skills to run their group and manage their profits, therefore we trained them on many skills on book keeping, team dynamics, proposal writing etc. we also partnered other organization such as Mazingira instate that trained them on garbage management. The group has now increased their earnings; more organized, opened bank accounts for their savings and are now into compost manure making for sale and plastic recycling. Their environment is not only clean and safe but also the community is now conscious with their dealings with the planet.

·         Land of plenty- also involves a youth group, the youth reform self help group [YRSHG]. We helped them establish a green house, and with this they have been able to grow tomatoes as their main produce. With supply now out weighing demand they needed a market outside kibera, therefore we trained them on skills of market analysis and strategy and with this they were able to find other markets. From the sale of the tomatoes the group members were able to meet their basic needs and now can even make personal saving. The community generally has become more secure with what was a security black spot is now a safe place and also food production in the area has risen up. The group has received recognition nationally by featuring in a local leading media house, NTV evening news.

·         Promise for the future- we initiated this project after carrying out a need assessment in the Ndeiya community, particularly the Teikuni primary school. We identified that there was a high school drop of pupils because of high poverty levels in the region. It was with this back drop that SIFE UoN team engaged the pupils to keep pedigree rabbits for sale. We organized a group of 4 pupils to keep a rabbit and because a less gestation period and mature fast the number of rabbits will increase. From the sale of this rabbits, the fund was to be placed in an education kitty account with the equity bank. This fund will cater for the pupils’ school fees and school requirement. Since inception of the project the rate of school dropout has reduced and the pupils have improved on their self esteem evidenced in their improved grades.

Funding

In SIFE we do not charge our target groups for our services to fund our activities. It is free from the name SIFE [student in free enterprise]. So where do we get funds from? We write proposal to corporate bodies for grants to fund our activities and also engage in entrepreneurial activities in the school such as selling pop corn, inspirational DVD and shirts to the student and staff community in the university.

Experience

SIFE projects provide a platform for many students to practice the theory learnt in class and also test their leadership skills. SIFE Kenya organizes periodically seminars, workshop for SIFE teams to train them on leadership, entrepreneurial skills and also through this seminars and workshop we are able to interact with the business community with which we make connection with our future employers.

It’s not only for the competition but for the opportunity to meet the vulnerable in the society and trying to uplift them from their challenges.

The biggest experience is learning how to work in a team. All SIFE activities are team work with everyone in the team playing an important role in seeing through the projects from the start to completion. With team work Together Everyone Achieves More [TEAM]