Two weeks in Homa Bay county. And of course, our team just happened to arrive just as the rains beganπ€.
Mud everywhere. Boda boda rides in the rain. The kind where you question your life choices while holding your laptop bag like a newborn. But that is farming season. When the rains come, everything moves...and we love it.
We sat with cooperative leaders. We listened to how they decide who is trustworthy. We watched how farmers hold each other accountable. The social capital inside these groups is not theory. It is real and it is disciplined.
We are learning that social capital, deeply embedded in cooperative structures, can be formalized into a practical credit framework. Trust, peer accountability, and shared reputation reduce risk in ways traditional models often miss.
Last Friday, all that learning turned into action. 44 loans issued across 4 farmer clusters in partnership with Nyawest Farmer Cooperative Society.
We have also handed over our loan origination and monitoring system to the cooperative in an effort to digitize the processes we have mapped and validated so far. This is a key step toward building scalable infrastructure rooted in how farmers already operate.
By April, we aim to have supported at least 200 farmers. The signals on the ground suggest we are on the right path.
Investment
Collaboration
Partnership