Esther Wambui Njoroge

Thank you for your loan. It has been disbursed to Esther Wambui Njoroge by Women`s Economic Empowerment Consort in Kenya. We are excited to watch this business grow. Over the next 10 - 12 months, Women`s Economic Empowerment Consort will be collecting repayments from this entrepreneur and posting progress updates on the Kiva website.

Esther is 29 years old and married to Steven. They have been married for four years, together they have a 1 year old son. They live in a house behind one of their shops.

Today, the family operates three businesses – two fruit / vegetable stands and a carpentry shop. They have received two Kiva loans through WEEC. The loans were used to build the second fruit stand and to finance Steven’s carpentry business. She used KSH 8000 to set up her stand, and another KSH 8000 to help her husband to start the carpentry business. Before the loans, Esther only operated one stand. They are currently using the business to try to save enough money to buy their own farm and open a bank account. With her stable living, Esther is able to help take care of one kid coming from a less fortunate family in her neighborhood.

In total, the businesses generate approximately KSH 20,000 per month in profits.

Esther’s fruit stands also support a couple of employees, who help her cart produce in the town and prepare vegetables/fruits for sale.

At this point, it’s not clear what the profitability is of the three businesses: each of the two fruit stands and the carpentry business. One area to be aware of is that some of the funds loaned through Kiva have gone to the carpentry business and others to the fruit stands. Its not totally clear if the funds are going 100% for their intended use.

That said, there does appear to be positive momentum in that Esther used the funds to open up a second stand – which is generating revenue and has increased the family’s overall income level.

The picture shows Esther together with her husband.