Who or what is your inspiration in business?

I enjoy working at the confluence of poverty alleviation and systems change. Growing up in a rural community in Kenya, watched my mother struggle to raise money. I from her fellow small business owners. Motivated by the resilience and grit by which rural Kenyan women over-indexed on, I resorted to dedicating my career towards a micro-lending business by designing and leading large-scale financial and economic inclusion initiatives for women and girls and strengthening national social policies

How do you stay motivated?

I read and research issues of poverty through the lens of finance and systems strengthening. I am always eager to learn, thus I engage in webinars, conferences and thematic roundtable discussions focusing on financial inclusion across rural and emerging markets. I am motivated to learn and continue to implement adaptive and practical solutions that allo low-income people in rural and underserved areas to access affordable financial services and hence escape poverty.

What would you do with the $25,000?

We are expanding our micro lending fund. With $25,000 we will be able to lend to 1000 seamstresses who on, average are applying for $100 with Jiwo Paro in order to scale their businesses.