Progress Update: Kangemi Companies

At Petals High School, the girls delivered short pitches of their three companies. One team is starting a fruit service, another is starting a salon, and the third is starting a cosmetics business.

We conducted group and individual discussions with the girls about ways to improve Gentr. In their feedback throughout the past year, they have mentioned difficulties regarding the tablet they have been using to access the entrepreneurship program materials. While the tablet has been great for research and communication through WhatsApp and Edmodo, the screen is too small for the girls to watch videos together and its speakers are too quiet. So this summer, we purchased and brought speakers and a Dell laptop with a large screen to address these challenges.

When asked about some of the skills they have learned from Gentr, the Kangemi girls mentioned that they have become more confident and independent, improved their presentation skills, increased their communication skills as well as their English-speaking skills, and, of course, learned more about what it takes to create a business. One girl, Antonella, even mentioned that going through this program has made them role models for other girls and women in their community. Some of the girls’ mothers expressed how much their daughters were teaching them and helping them improve some of their own current businesses.