Kenyan Business Partner Updates

Yvonne Asunnah – Yvonne Asunnah Kenya, Mathare Creative Foundation

So much has happened in the past year-and-a-half. Yvonne got married to Brian, gave birth to baby Herana, and the family moved to Kitengela, which is about fifty km south of Nairobi. As we enter the final year of our five-year investment agreement with Yvonne she is working hard to develop a strategic plan for the next steps in the companies growth and development. The business has not done as well in Mathare since it is not her target market, and on a normal day it takes her over two hours to commute from Kitengela to Mathare. Over ninety percent of her clients and referrals are from Kitengela and nearby areas. In addition, the current YAK studios rental building are likely to be demolished next year due to the expansion on Juja road. Kitengela is growing rapidly with the addition of the express way, and Yvonne feels she can capitalize on this growth. She will continue her work with Mathare youth through a partnership with Billian Music Family, which empowers youth through art. Billian has been seeking a partner to provide fashion and tailoring options for their youth and have shared space and equipment available for Yvonne to use. We look forward to partnering through these transitions in the year ahead! 

Kevin Fraji – K. Fraji Production

We are currently operating after a few months of preparation. Business is a little slow due to the upcoming general elections on 9th august 2022. Despite that we are still functional and running our business normally. We have done some productions since we opened up and it’s been a great step for us as a company being that we are only few months old. KFRAJI Production is also running a training center (video and photo editing, graphics designing and camera operation) for those who are less privileged. To those video and photo editors and graphics designers who lack equipment to do their work, we offer them space to do their work, but at a fee. We also run a cyber café to help the public with online services. We have few challenges when it comes to transportation whenever we are going out for the productions such as wedding and events. Renting equipment is at times expensive, but we are hoping to continue to buy more of our own to avoid hiring and spending so much. Mostly we are so grateful and thankful to IA for standing with us and we promise not to disappoint you guys.

Yours faithfully,
Kevin Otieno Obambo

Seth Luchemo – Recreation Factory

Our aim as Recreation Factory still remains to provide opportunities for young artist to develop their
talents and skills. We have been consistent with our Saturday art sessions with the young people of Mathare, and we glad that the numbers keep growing. At the moment we have 20 children who participate in the art program every Saturday.
During the month of April, we were able to organize for a three day art camp where 25 young
people ages 9-16 participated. The aim of the camp was to help the young people learn how they can use their talents and skills to build the Kingdom of God. We did these in partnership with our church, the Nuru Centre, that was able to facilitate the logistics and provided space.
We have recently resumed other classes for a different group of young people in Kariobangi known as
“Have Hope Kids”. We used to work with this group before Covid 19 but we never resumed
until now. So far we have had three sessions with the group and we hope for more going forward. The
total number of participants is at 25 young people but this will keep growing with time.
We are yet to begin active Artist Mentorship sessions, but so far we have been working hand in hand
with two performing artists from Mathare in mentoring and sharpening their Music skills. We are in talks
with a group of dancers from Baba Ndogo area, on how we can work together in helping them develop
structures and leadership systems for the group.
The Recreation Factory Audio Visual is making progress and we are grateful to Inverted Arts for
making this dream a reality. At the moment we are working on doing more branding and marketing for
the business and also purchasing more equipment that will help in winning more clients.

Seth Oluvuyi Luchemo