Somo's first cohort in Kisumu launched in August! This cohort will graduate in November and we will be making our first investments in January of 2020. In order to prepare for onboarding these newest members of our Acceleration program we will be launching our Kisumu Hub. We have secured land in one of the informal settlements we work in, Nyalenda. Now we need to build the space! If you would like to help us build please contribute to our crowdfunding campaign.
The urbanization of East Africa has created massively over-populated informal settlements, with a dire lack of basic services and employment opportunities. Kenya has an entrepreneurial culture, and residents of its unincorporated settlements have community changing ideas that have the potential to be thriving businesses. But these entrepreneurs lack the training, capital, mentorship and market access to bring about change in their communities.
Our Somo name is inspired by our mission to create a community around the lessons we learn from each other. Talent is widely distributed but the opportunity is not. We enable entrepreneurs whose talent is otherwise squandered by crime, lack of capital and subsistence work. Our goal is to challenge the status quo by providing pathways for people to create change within their communities.
Your support will give us a home in Kisumu, providing trainees and entrepreneurs a supportive space to work and grow their businesses from. If you're in a position to help us expand our impact, please consider donating! Somo Kisumu is just the beginning! Somo is planning to expand to a third location by the end of 2020.
