The Role Of Women Entrepreneurs In Kenya
As stated in the article studied, 80% of consumers are in fact female. I believe their day to day life is a contributing factor. Due to Kenya’s place in the economy and women’s role in families, the head of house plays a significant role in energy systems as part of their day to day productive tasks. This being fetching fuel and water for homes and engaging in micro-enterprises in their area. Women are forced to spend an inordinate amount of time and effort in fuel collection, at times resulting in missed opportunities for employment, education and self-improvement. The Lighting Africa program identified a wide pool of women who were operating at a micro-level. Women being head of house interact with many different families and microbusinesses. This means they have an increased ability to penetrate of higher quality products to all levels of the pyramid scheme while simultaneously building education for professional development. On another note, women in Kenya make majority of impactful decisions regarding monetary products. This means they have control over the creation of business venues opening up at a micro and macro level.
Females’ entrepreneurial mindsets would influence the success of the solar lighting project in Kenya. The Lighting Africa program allows women’s roles to go beyond just being users of energy services. This gender smart solution allows females to become change agents in the energy sector: in selling, maintaining and financing energy products and services. With this, women become entrepreneurs, meaning there are certain characteristics that need to be obtained to insure profitability in the certain market. Success in a new businesses is progressively reliant on the entrepreneur’s ingenuity. This mentality is a key behaviour that impacts financial and social success. This is apparent in the case study as these women are forming a massive economic development.
Women will need a risk-taker, independent, future-oriented and tenacious proactive mindset to embrace the training. On another note, confidence is a trait vital for women entrepreneurs. This trait stands to be significant as it helps develop an essential characteristic to further develop an entrepreneurial mindset. In this example, confidence is advanced by linking women entrepreneurs with certified trainers to develop the education surrounding entrepreneurship, teaching those marketing techniques and business techniques. Once these characteristics are developed, personal, social and professional development is able to grow allowing good-quality products to the bottom of the pyramid, addressing the energy gap in households. By having these confidence and collaborative skills, women can use these to pitch ideas to many neighbouring villages, supporting professional development and profitability.
Another female characteristic is having a passion for the issue at hand. When there is strong passion for the issue, the entrepreneur can be more persuasive, motivated and have larger social networks. This in turn leads to higher socio-economic growth and capital. A strong passion for women’s health and creating a change in energy systems will generates higher income and professional development. In this case, women must have a passion to change for the health scares regarding Kerosene in the home environment.
Elements of the entrepreneurial 5Ps
The 5 P’s can be used to overcome the following:
- Partnership: Education becomes a crucial element in entrepreneurial success and is a way for businesses to raise their people to the highest success. Higher educational effects are exerted on the ability to give women increasing market access, economic empowerment and improved capabilities. The positive effect education is likely to have on households will increase income and hence expenditure.
- Pitch: Consumer education is another key challenge, particularly in rural areas. Awareness about available energy options and their benefits needs to be increased. In addition, the hazards involved with using different energy sources such as Kerosene need to be brought to people’s attention. An enabling environment refers to the conditions in a country or region that support the growth of a particular industry. Enabling a good pitch that thoroughly caters to the consumers’ needs will allow personal, social and professional development.
- Product: Consistent customer trust is important so good quality products must be available. Having easy access to technical assistance is another key factor. The presence of technicians well versed in troubleshooting, repair and maintenance would increase consumers’ trust. But the fact that consumers live far apart, coupled with their low buying power, makes the notion of setting up service centres in the distribution regions unsustainable.
Seven-stage journey concept
Entrepreneurship is a journey in which some move through the 7 step process fast, stumbling into success in a matter of weeks. But others move slowly, spending decades of their lives perfecting the art. All experiences are different, but all move through similar process. The stages are flexible learning curves that ultimately create the success or downfall of a business. I believe the seven step entrepreneurial process does not full apply to the women in Kenya as they are receiving the initial idea and training. So in the ‘you stage’ they miss out on the developmental learning to shape their values and believes. Although women entrepreneurs in Kenya miss out on this forming stage, the rest of the steps are followed though the training and passion for change. The LME program then gives women the ability to want to change. The quest stage offers to women the ability to have an impact on the socio-cultural income of Kenya, the heath impacts and also personal growth.
I believe that the LME program allows new entrepreneurs to follow the seven step entrepreneurial stage in a guided way giving women a chance to operate a microbusiness to support personal and financial development. By identifying the gap in women’s marketing and education, ‘Lighting Africa program’ gives women a chance to operate a microbusiness by providing education, technology, giving acess to small loans, accesability to products and a opportunity for employment.
