What am I fundraising for?

Glad you asked.

LivelyHoods, over the course of its short history, has expanded from two staff and seven trainees in one community, to 25 full time staff managing a network of 120 agents and 10 branch locations across Kenya.

LivelyHoods’ vast expansion is a testament to the success of its model. Sales agents are unemployed women and youth from a slum community that did not have the resources for a formal education, to start a business, or access the formal job market. New sales agents are hired based on talent, and trained to build the skills required to be a successful sales agent, and fulfill newly discovered ambitions.

These sales agents are each based at a branch location central to their sales region, and each branch has a branch manager. The majority of branch managers begin as sales agents, and live in the communities where they work, connecting them to the people that they work with and serve.

Each sales agent is trained by experienced trainers that implement the LivelyHoods curriculum. Trainers regularly onboard new cohorts of sales agents across the country. In addition to new trainees, the trainers travel between branch locations, providing field support to new agents.

After completing the training, agents are able to select a consignment of goods. Earning a 10-20% commission on their sales, the agents are able to choose a basket of goods that will be relevant to the communities where they work. Goods are supplied based on a survey of the community, again placing an emphasis on the communities’ needs.

To open a new branch location costs about $20,000. This includes recruitment, training, and the initial purchase of products. Specifically, funds raised will cover the following:

With this $20,000, the LivelyHoods model will be expanded internationally, into regions with slum communities with high risk youth and women, who will gain business skills and awareness of environmental and social issues beyond what was learned in formal education.

Women and youth are best placed to become sales agents because of their deep social networks, and a deep commitment to the dynamics and issues in their community.

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