Driving Sustainable Change: Economic Empowerment of Persons With Disabilities in Kenya
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Building a Successful, Diversified Enterprise
- How a Circular Economy Is Driving Disability Empowerment in Mombasa
- Measuring the Impact: Income Growth and Jobs for People With Disabilities
- Paying It Forward: Training the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs With Disabilities
- Looking Ahead: The Future of Disability-Led Enterprise in Kenya
In 2000, 10 women came together around a simple yet radical idea: to build a space where they would no longer be sidelined. They formed the Tunaweza Persons With Disability Community-Based Organization, choosing a Swahili name that translates to “We Can.”
In an era where people with disabilities were frequently dismissed as a burden rather than recognized for their potential as economic contributors, the founders of Tunaweza Persons with Disabilities Community-Based Organization (Tunaweza PWD CBO) sought to carve out an independent space of their own. By choosing a name that translates to ‘We Can,’ they weren’t merely starting a venture; they were reclaiming their agency, challenging prejudice, and asserting their fundamental right to economic dignity and independence.
Building a Successful, Diversified Enterprise
More than two decades later, those two words are still the backbone of their organization.
What began as a small self-help group in Mombasa county selling cereals and kerosene has grown into a resilient, diversified enterprise. Today, the group operates across multiple sectors:
- Managing a plastic buy-back center
- Producing peanut butter for local supermarkets
- Providing logistics services via tuk-tuk
- Offering professional event hire services, which involves renting out tents and chairs for community gatherings
This ecosystem supports 15 active members, ensuring financial stability through varied income streams. But the road to success has been long and rarely smooth. Tunaweza has endured setbacks that would have forced many other businesses to close their doors.
After investing in a tailoring business, the group lost everything when their shop was looted during the 2007 post-election violence. They rebuilt, only to face a series of devastating break-ins that wiped out their later investments in a cyber café and a peanut butter production line.
Rather than giving up, the group used each setback to reconsider how they worked.
“The name ‘Tunaweza’ is not just a title for us; it is our lived reality,” said Charity Chahasi, one of the group’s founders and the current chairperson. “We have refused to let setbacks or societal barriers define our limits. By building our own circular economy and growing our business from the ground up, we have proven that persons with disabilities are not a burden, but a powerful force for economic growth in our community.”
How a Circular Economy Is Driving Disability Empowerment in Mombasa
This shift in perspective helped them find opportunities where others saw only waste. Through the BlueBiz Program and the Bahari Boost Challenge Fund (BBCF), the group received training from Big Ship CBO, the program’s implementing partner in Mombasa county, that changed how they ran their business.
Today, plastic recycling is the backbone of their operation, anchored by a buy-back center that is a point of pride. They collect about 500 kilograms of plastic waste every month, diverting it from local waterways and landfills. With the support of a $2,781 grant from the BBCF, they established a facility and purchased their first tuk-tuk. They used the proceeds from their waste collection and event hire services to fund professional development, including sending two members to driving school.
The BBCF grant served as a powerful strategic catalyst, providing the essential capital needed to scale their operations and transform their infrastructure. This investment fueled the enterprise’s growth, enabling the use of various business proceeds to provide stable, full-time employment for 10 members, with another five working part-time. Now, with a solid foundation beneath them, the group is looking toward the horizon, planning to reinvest their hard-earned profits into a second tuk-tuk to expand their transport services and create even more opportunities.
Measuring the Impact: Income Growth and Jobs for People With Disabilities
Each of these businesses now supports the other. When one sector faces a slow month, another keeps the operations steady. This diversification has helped stabilize the finances of the members, most of whom are women. Previously, the group generated a monthly income between $77 and $154. The group now generates monthly profits ranging from $309 to $463.
Paying It Forward: Training the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs With Disabilities
Beyond their own financial growth, Tunaweza is paying it forward. They trained over 200 youth and other persons with disabilities in waste management and craft-making. Their workshop, where members create ornaments from recycled paper, has become a training hub that demonstrates that people can earn a dignified living while protecting the environment.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Disability-Led Enterprise in Kenya
As they look ahead, the group is pursuing new goals. They are working to supply major retailers like Naivas Supermarket with peanut butter and are currently training members to operate a new passenger tuk-tuk.
Tunaweza is a story of people who refused to be defined by exclusion or loss. They turned repeated adversity into a sustainable business, and their message to other aspiring entrepreneurs remains simple: “It is possible. You can do it. Everything has value.”
