On 21 November 2018, ActionAid Kenya named six winners of its SDG Ambassadors case competition in social entrepreneurship, with each team receiving a Sh500,000 seed fund. The programme had attracted more than 150 social entrepreneurs when it was announced in July.
Beyond the cash award, the winners were set to receive customised mentorship from business leaders to help them grow their ventures and widen their community impact. ActionAid Kenya project manager Mathias Kure said the selected enterprises stood out because they served vulnerable groups rather than chasing profit alone.
“Each of the enterprises that won had something to offer to the most vulnerable members of the society. We are supporting a crop of social entrepreneurs who are not just focused on making profit but those who seek to impact the communities in which they operate,” he said.
The finalists used 10-minute pitches to explain their models and the problems they were trying to solve. Their stories ranged from youth mentorship and financial inclusion to reproductive health media, mango value addition and disability-focused broadcasting.
Mentorthon: a school idea that grew into a national mentorship project ¶
Tim Kipchumba said the idea for Mentorthon began while he was still in high school, after hearing a university student speak during one of his school’s mentorship programmes. The project connects professionals, brands, entrepreneurs and leaders with high school students.
Kipchumba later won a scholarship to Strathmore University, graduated with distinction, completed a Master’s degree, co-authored two books and co-founded Questworks. He said he and his colleague Oscar Kimani worked late into the night before the pitch, printed cue cards and prepared for likely questions.
“My colleague Oscar Kimani and I prepared into the night prior to the event. Oscar printed small decks for cues during the presentation. We anticipated questions and focused our pitch on showing the problems facing high school students and, generally, young people, and how intervention was going to change the situation in the long run. The judges believed in our cause,” he said.
Mantle Africa: keeping the pitch simple ¶
Benito Mckenzie, 30, co-founded Mantle Africa, a micro asset investment firm that leases motorbikes to riders and transfers ownership after a year. He said the idea came after a cyclist told him his life would change if he owned a motorbike because of the higher income and efficiency compared with a bicycle.
After researching the sector, Mckenzie concluded that many riders could not access bank loans to buy motorbikes. He started the business in 2013 with one motorbike and later expanded it to include a new motorbike, comprehensive insurance and medical cover for clients. The company also provides 1,000 disposable and reusable helmet liners for riders who avoid helmets over hygiene concerns.
“Our first client has 10 motorbikes and is currently running a very big delivery business,” he said.
Mckenzie said the pitch worked because it was straightforward and grounded in lived experience. “I was genuine and had to tell our story as simple as possible. I live on the K.I.S.S principle. Keep It Strictly Simple. We told our story, we showed the impact we had, we shared our dreams, we shared our journey and we showed the judges our future and how when we talk about wholesome financial inclusion, we are going the whole 100 yards. We are making impact investments the real way.”
Imara TV: turning a reproductive health idea into a funded platform ¶
Stephen Maina, 32, co-founded BTI Millman in 2010 while studying at the University of Nairobi, where he and two other students began building custom mobile and web software solutions from a university hostel. That work later evolved into Imara TV.
Imara TV has since generated more than Sh2.9 million in sponsorships and paid advertising from non-profit organisations working on reproductive health awareness. In 2016, when the United Nations Population Fund, the Ministry of Health, UKAid and the Nailab Accelerator challenged Kenyan youth innovators to find sustainable solutions to the sexual and reproductive health crisis, Maina presented an idea that won Sh1 million in seed funding for online content.
Maina said the team’s victory in the competition came from telling a story that funders could connect with. He said the strongest part of the pitch was the account of a woman who survived early marriage in Korogocho, Nairobi, joined a film-making youth group and is now pursuing acting.
“We believe the story told by one of us who survived early marriage in the Korogocho slums of Nairobi to join a film making youth group and now is on her way to becoming an accomplished actress, best told our story and earned us victory,” he said.
Mucho Mangoes: resilience and a Sh16,000 start ¶
Didas Mzirai said his childhood in Taveta was shaped by mango picking with his grandmother for an export company after he was neglected by his parents, who bore him out of wedlock. He said mangoes were the family’s only source of income, and it was painful when fruit that failed export standards was rejected.
He later founded Mucho Mangoes to support farmers with production skills and value addition so they could meet international standards and make products with longer shelf life. The 36-year-old said he started the company with a Sh16,000 seed fund from Spark International.
Mucho Mangoes recorded a turnover of Sh2,230,320 in 2017, though Mzirai said the business had not yet broken even. He said his personal story of resilience helped him during the Friday pitch.
Signs TV: building Africa’s first deaf television channel ¶
Luke Kizito said his deaf sister inspired him to start Signs TV after seeing how television and radio failed to include deaf audiences. He said the idea grew into what he described as Africa’s first deaf television channel.
Founded in 2011, Signs TV was initially meant to train deaf people in music as a hobby, but it later expanded to cover social, economic, political and talent development issues affecting persons with disabilities. Kizito said the channel had faced its biggest challenge in earning trust from corporate firms since it started broadcasting in February.
He said the competition rewarded the originality of the idea and its social purpose. “We demonstrated the nobility of the idea as a social enterprise working on the spirit of leaving no one behind. We are the only TV in Africa doing this,” he said.
The six winners left with seed capital and mentorship, but the competition also highlighted how Kenyan founders are packaging social impact as investable business. Their pitches leaned on personal experience, clear problem statements and evidence of traction.
