Four well-spaced manyattas and a water kiosk greets you when you arrive in remote Nakwamor village about 15 kilometres from Lokichoggio town in Turkana West.
Charcoal in steel tins, mandazi in buckets and tobacco packed in small quantities and suspended from the upper side of the entrance of the manyattas are all there is to show you are at a shopping centre.
Welcoming smiles from women seated on the ground while waiting for their customers show their passion and determination to transform the centre.
On the farthest end, Ms Taale Napeyok is lucky to have a permanent water booth as her shop. She has stocked soap, sugar, flour, sweets, utensils, soft drinks and cereals, among other goods.
A shopping centre in Nakwamor village, Turkana West sub-county. Most women sell their commodities in manyatta shops.
Before 2017, the village had no shop, so she had to trek or travel to Lokichoggio town for small quantities of food and other commodities for her family of six. It was tiring.
And so she conceived an idea, starting up a food business. She saved part of the money she received from the Hunger Safety Net Programme, the cash transfer programme designed by the state to support extremely vulnerable citizens. With Sh8,000, she was ready to go. She meets her family needs from the shop.
“Many villagers opt to buy from me as opposed to spending money on boda boda or walking to town to buy commodities that I, too, have,” Ms Napeyok says.
Lokichoggio Water Services selected her to manage the water booth on their behalf and built it in a way that would also comfortably accommodate her stock.
Many businesses were hit by the Covid-19 crisis after a number of containment measures to curb the virus were enforced, and rural ones were no exception. The measures included closure of schools, restrictions on movement, and shutdown of markets, especially in the nearby Kakuma Refugee Camp.
“When children were ordered to stay at home, my shop was nearly empty as the shop was the main source of food. I lacked money to buy more stock, as despite a hike in prices, many of my customers had lost their jobs in Lokichoggio town,” she explains.
Welthungerhilfe support
Most of the manyatta shops in the village had closed down because of Covid-19. However, in January, luck smiled on them when Welthungerhilfe (WHH), a German organisation, through a programme that supports small, micro and medium enterprises hit by Covid, came to their rescue.
A trader at her manyatta shop at Nakwamor village.
The recovery programme targeted 500 poorest households whose breadwinners had lost jobs and 750 locals on 12 community farms who wished to diversify their sources of income through agribusiness.
Ms Napeyok received Sh16,000 to help her restock the shop.
“I spent all the money I received from Welthungerhilfe and my savings, totalling Sh19,980, on stock from Warsan General Shop in Lokichoggio. With financial literacy training, I have been able to sustain my business. The profit is helping me pay school fees for my children: three in secondary school and three others in primary school,” she says.
Other women reopened their businesses when they realised that 208 passionate and hardworking owners of small businesses in the village and across Turkana West were being enrolled for an economic recovery programme.
“Now that I inspired several women to engage in business, I look forward to owning the first wholesale shop in this village so that I can rescue them from relying on Lokichoggio town to buy stocks,” Ms Napeyok adds.
Her neighbour, Ms Anam Natoo Lokwang, was also a beneficiary of the cash programme. Her household has 16 children, including 10 grandchildren.
Ms Lokwang has been the breadwinner of the family since her husband died. She was selling firewood and charcoal to eateries and homes in Lokichoggio town. On a good day, she would make between Sh150 and Sh200. This mostly went into buying food.
Ms Anna Natoo Lokwang and part of her family of 16. She now sells mandazi after her firewood and charcoal venture in Lokichoggio town was hit hard by Covid-19 pandemic.
However, one day she went back home without selling her firewood. It then dawned on her that the venture, which many women from the village and other settlements on the outskirts of Lokichoggio town had embraced, was not reliable anymore.
Drop in customer numbers
“Most eateries that I was relying on had closed down, with owners saying there was a sharp drop in the number of customers due to Covid-19 containment measures,” Ms Lokwang recalls.
Besides, the few goats and sheep she had were also getting emaciated pasture scarcity worsened and they could not fetch her much money if sold.
And so when she received Sh5,000 from the German organisation, she used Sh3,000 to clear fee arrears for one of the children.
“The remaining amount I invested in a mandazi business by spending Sh1,700 on the ingredients that include wheat flour and cooking oil. That night I prepared mandazi that I sold within the village. I made enough money to buy more flour and remained with Sh100 profit, which I used to buy food,” Ms Lokwang says, smiling.
Her children help her sell mandazi near the main shop as she engages in other ventures during the day.
“At least I can feed my family twice a day with the mandazi business and by looking at my grandchildren smile every day. I’m grateful to God that I was part of the beneficiaries of the Welthungerhilfe programme,” she says.
She says the advantage of cash assistance is that anyone with a business mind can multiply the cash by investing it. BY DAILY NATION