A loan helped to increase the income of women entrepreneurs in rural Kenya and continue to serve customers during this time of pandemic.


Cherehani Africa's story

There are more than 6 million women-owned enterprises in Kenya, but over 80% of women in rural and underserved areas are excluded from the financial system due to financial illiteracy and lack of traditional assets.

Cherehani provides credit and productive assets such as sewing machines on credit to women and girls aged 17–19 years who own micro-enterprises. Along with personalized financial literacy training, Cherehani connects its clients with markets to sell their final products. Their customers are tailors, farmers, retail shop owners, and food vendors. In the last year, Cherehani served over 13,000 customers, most of whom live on roughly USD $7 per day. Customers on average have gained USD $139 in annual income.

Like many businesses around the world, Cherehani is unable to operate normally as a result of the crisis, leading to a need for flexible working capital to procure sewing machines for their customers. This loan of $100,000 will help Cherehani weather this crisis and be in a position to continue to serve their customers in the aftermath of the pandemic.

This is the second Kiva loan to Cherehani. View Cherehani's last loan here.

On a recent field visit, Kiva's Media team produced this video featuring Cherehani's work.


This loan is special because:

it enables women micro-entrepreneurs to access efficient sewing machines to increase their income.



Loan details


Lenders and lending teams




Loan details