Maureen is an 18-year-old who recently graduated alongside her cohort 10 colleagues. When we first encountered her during the interviews, she expressed enthusiasm and maintained curiosity and high energy throughout her time with the trainers. Her career aspiration is to study business and end up in the banking and financial advisory sector. She also has a heart for children and would like to open and run a children’s home someday as her way of changing the lives of people in the community.
Maureen highlighted all the courses we offer as useful and applicable to her; she appreciates her basic competence with computer applications which unlocks her ability to be creative and her compatibility with emerging entry-level opportunities. The entrepreneurship class was significantly impactful to her as it challenged her to start her own business.
As part of the Entrepreneurship class curriculum, Maureen convinced the members of her group to pursue soap making, packaging, and marketing as she was familiar with it, having been introduced to it by a friend. The pursuit exposed the team to the many operational challenges of running a business with further challenges of handling group dynamics while running a business. After the group task was closed having accomplished its objective, Maureen and her classmate Christabel decided to continue with the business. They did door-to-door sales in their immediate neighborhoods, to the Good Kenyan community, and through word of mouth.
Through the Good Kenyan’s support for the business, Maureen has secured branding for her soap, professionally packaged her products, and is on her way to closing the testing and standardization process with KEBS. She also won the Seeds for Hope scholarship and is pursuing a diploma in Tax Administration in Kenya School Of Revenue Administration.