In the beginning was the Idea, and the Idea was Enterprise Education
Our first entrepreneurship mentoring model
Enterprise Education-4-Change was formed as a cross generational platform for linking rural resources with the technical skills and academic advantages enjoyed by University/College students and graduates in order to drive rural development in Kenya. In linking the community based groups with students and graduates on different academic programs, Ee4C enhances the growth of small scale businesses run by community groups through building of financial, commercial, and strategic capacity. We have been successful in doing this through business training, forming community linkages with different partners and promoting their products on Ee4C Facebook Fan-page and other outlets for product/service visibility. The program, which was started in 2014 has now reached its third year.
In 2014, the founder, Simeon Ogonda attended the Community Solutions Program (a professional fellowship of young leaders working in various community initiatives and with passion for community development) in the United States and came back to organize this successful team for progress in our community. Here is a link to the fellowship he attended (https://www.irex.org/person/simeon-ogonda).
Our projects are all interesting and quite fun to volunteer in. The three most successful ones are entrepreneurship training, Stoke, and Jualight. The training includes a mentoring program and a business training component which helps in converting informal businesses to formal business and developing young business persons confident in their capacity to grow their own potential. Stoke and Jualight are premiere initiatives operated by Ee4C and partners (Jualight Technologies Limited, and Millennial Legacy Consultants Ltd and Enactus Mount Royal University) to enhance the production of different smart and efficient energy and health choices for the rural communities we work with. Our partnerships with these organizations began in 2015 and continue to enhance our activities.
All our projects can be accessed through the projects button on the home page.
Stoke project’s main product is the environmentally friendly TLUD stoves used to promote environmental conservation, health, and efficient use of energy. The stove uses one piece of wood (one meter long) for up to two hours, reduces smoke production by 95% compared to the traditional three-stone fireplace, and uses very little firewood. The little firewood used is also converted to charcoal by the stove to be used either as biochar for farming or for ironing clothes. Ee4C has a production site and an active sales team to drive the agenda of promoting health, environment and efficient energy use through the Stoke stoves.
Jualight Project is a program of Jualight Technologies Limited. In their business plan of growing young small scale business persons, Ee4C has collaborated with them to distribute the Luci solar lantern since September 2015. This is a revolutionary way of enhancing the rural solar energy production and consumption process. The light charges for 6-8 hours, lights for 8-12 hours depending on intensity used, and has a one year warranty with a two year lifespan if used daily. This product is imported and through Ee4C we have been able to drive the agenda of efficient energy in Kenya since 2015. We are constantly seeking to influence rural choices by introducing smart technology and we hope that Ee4C will achieve its mission of promoting rural programs like these in the long run.
The entrepreneurship training was our premier activity. In 2015 we wanted to bring transparency and accountability to the community by ensuring that groups that claimed to work for the community were doing their best. In order to do so we designed a project aimed at collaborating with the regional Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission in Kisumu to visit and discuss ways of improving our students understanding of various corruption monitoring mechanisms in order to better influence their own interactions with community groups and assist them grow. We also worked with students from Maseno University and Kisumu Polytechnic in order to promote a cross-generational collaboration process that would enhance our impact in the community.
This project has since been featured in Forbes Magazine (http://www.forbes.com/sites/ashoka/2015/01/22/for-youth-by-youth-creating-jobs-sustainability-and-a-future-vision-for-kenya/#23a26f525bdb).
In spite of being in existence for a very short time, our program has been featured by Ashoka Changemakers as a Future Forward Competition finalist (the best 18 out of 195 submitted projects), Forbes.com, UN Habitat, and American Express Innovators Program. We owe this favorable evaluation of our work to the contributions of Ee4C volunteers and the groups whose success shines on the positive impact of our projects.
Here are other links of our work and that of our founder:
Ashoka Changemakers: https://www.changemakers.com/users/simeon-ogonda
Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simeon-ogonda/what-kind-of-children_b_7087100.html
In 2014, the founder, Simeon Ogonda attended the Community Solutions Program (a professional fellowship of young leaders working in various community initiatives and with passion for community development) in the United States and came back to organize this successful team for progress in our community. Here is a link to the fellowship he attended (https://www.irex.org/person/simeon-ogonda).
Our projects are all interesting and quite fun to volunteer in. The three most successful ones are entrepreneurship training, Stoke, and Jualight. The training includes a mentoring program and a business training component which helps in converting informal businesses to formal business and developing young business persons confident in their capacity to grow their own potential. Stoke and Jualight are premiere initiatives operated by Ee4C and partners (Jualight Technologies Limited, and Millennial Legacy Consultants Ltd and Enactus Mount Royal University) to enhance the production of different smart and efficient energy and health choices for the rural communities we work with. Our partnerships with these organizations began in 2015 and continue to enhance our activities.
All our projects can be accessed through the projects button on the home page.
Stoke project’s main product is the environmentally friendly TLUD stoves used to promote environmental conservation, health, and efficient use of energy. The stove uses one piece of wood (one meter long) for up to two hours, reduces smoke production by 95% compared to the traditional three-stone fireplace, and uses very little firewood. The little firewood used is also converted to charcoal by the stove to be used either as biochar for farming or for ironing clothes. Ee4C has a production site and an active sales team to drive the agenda of promoting health, environment and efficient energy use through the Stoke stoves.
Jualight Project is a program of Jualight Technologies Limited. In their business plan of growing young small scale business persons, Ee4C has collaborated with them to distribute the Luci solar lantern since September 2015. This is a revolutionary way of enhancing the rural solar energy production and consumption process. The light charges for 6-8 hours, lights for 8-12 hours depending on intensity used, and has a one year warranty with a two year lifespan if used daily. This product is imported and through Ee4C we have been able to drive the agenda of efficient energy in Kenya since 2015. We are constantly seeking to influence rural choices by introducing smart technology and we hope that Ee4C will achieve its mission of promoting rural programs like these in the long run.
The entrepreneurship training was our premier activity. In 2015 we wanted to bring transparency and accountability to the community by ensuring that groups that claimed to work for the community were doing their best. In order to do so we designed a project aimed at collaborating with the regional Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission in Kisumu to visit and discuss ways of improving our students understanding of various corruption monitoring mechanisms in order to better influence their own interactions with community groups and assist them grow. We also worked with students from Maseno University and Kisumu Polytechnic in order to promote a cross-generational collaboration process that would enhance our impact in the community.
This project has since been featured in Forbes Magazine (http://www.forbes.com/sites/ashoka/2015/01/22/for-youth-by-youth-creating-jobs-sustainability-and-a-future-vision-for-kenya/#23a26f525bdb).
In spite of being in existence for a very short time, our program has been featured by Ashoka Changemakers as a Future Forward Competition finalist (the best 18 out of 195 submitted projects), Forbes.com, UN Habitat, and American Express Innovators Program. We owe this favorable evaluation of our work to the contributions of Ee4C volunteers and the groups whose success shines on the positive impact of our projects.
Here are other links of our work and that of our founder:
Ashoka Changemakers: https://www.changemakers.com/users/simeon-ogonda
Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simeon-ogonda/what-kind-of-children_b_7087100.html
