What Next After The Program

WHAT NEXT

Congratulations! You have successfully completed your training under the Inukamama/any trade skill training program. So what's next. There are several ways you can drive your career from here.

Here's what I'd recommend 

1. Get placed under a working stylist, unpaid or low-paid if necessary. Not a classroom, an actual busy salon. Ask local salons in Kajiado town, Kitengela, or Ongata Rongai for a 2 to 3 month attachment. This is where real speed, client handling, and problem-solving get built. A certificate teaches technique, a chair full of real clients teaches judgment.

Gel Painting after pedicure process

1. Pick one/two thing(skills) to get known for. Each person should choose one specialty she's naturally faster or more confident at, and go deep on it. That becomes your personal brand inside a group, and later, a reason clients choose her specifically. 

2. Start earning individually before the group business exists. You don't need a shop to start. A basic personal toolkit (clippers, combs, extensions, a portable chair) lets you do mobile or home-based services for neighbors, church members, relatives, whoever will pay even a small amount. This does three things at once: builds real client-handling experience, generates a bit of personal capital,

3. Build yourself on social media . Every finished style gets a photo, posted on WhatsApp status and Instagram or TikTok if you can. This is free marketing and it's also proof of skill you can show a lender later

4. Track money from day one, even in a notebook. How much you charge, what you spent on supplies, what you kept as profit. This habit, done individually for a few months, is what makes the eventual group business plan credible.

5. Consider a NITA trade test or a short specialized course in your chosen niche, rather than more general training. A recognized trade test certificate carries more weight with clients and lenders than a general beauty certificate, and specialization courses. https://www.nita.go.ke/

NITA

Funding and Loans

• Loan - you have to repay

• Grant - you don't have to repay

Favourable for groups/chamas

1. Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) - Loan 

This is your best first stop. It targets registered women's groups (10+ members, majority women) and lends at low interest, disbursed through partner banks like Equity, KCB, and Co-op Bank. 

The Fund has disbursed over KES 28 billion in loans to more than 2.28 million women entrepreneurs across all 290 constituencies nationally since its inception, with loan repayment rates exceeding 95 percent, so this isn't a small or obscure program, it's actively disbursing right now. 

More than two million women have also benefited from WEF entrepreneurship training programmes, covering financial literacy, digital skills, AGPO procurement, value addition, and business management — take the training if it's offered before the loan, it strengthens your application. Jumuiya NewsJumuiya News

Steps: 

1. Register your group with the Social Development office (Chama/self-help group registration, not a company).

2. Open a group bank account, start a visible savings pattern.

3. Apply through WEF's constituency office or their partner bank branch. Website: wef.go.ke.

Use this link to access details on Tuinuke loan

https://wef.go.ke/tuinuke-loan/?tk=1787059546

2. Uwezo Fund - Loan with 0% interest rate

The Uwezo Fund is a Vision 2030 flagship programme that provides interest-free loans to groups of youth, women, and persons with disabilities (PWDs) at the constituency level.

Interest-free is attractive but amounts are smaller and it's run through your local constituency office, so approval speed depends heavily on how organized your local office is. 

Steps:

1. Attach certified copies of members' IDs, group registration certificate, business plan, and proof of business activity for expansion loans.

2. Then the sub-county officer reviews and forwards qualifying applications to the board. Go to your constituency Uwezo Fund desk directly, don't rely only on the website. 

Uwezo fund loan application form : https://www.uwezo.go.ke/sites/default/files/2023-09/uwezo-application-form.pdf

For the national funds in Kajiado:

WEF and Uwezo Fund both operate through your constituency office (Kajiado North, Central, East, West, or Kajiado South depending on where you're based),

3. AGPO (Access to Government Procurement Opportunities)

This isn't a loan, it's a registration that lets women, youth, and PWD-owned groups bid for a reserved 30% of government tenders (uniforms, grooming contracts for institutions, etc).

What does this mean: As a group you can bid to supply goods for government institutions (which are called govt tenders) 

A good alternative source of income for your group.

Worth registering for once you're formalized, since it opens a revenue stream that doesn't require repayment.

4. Banks

Equity Bank - Their Eazzy Biz and group/Chama loans are the most group-friendly of the mainstream banks. If your group has been saving with Equity for a few months, you qualify faster.

KCB - KCB Chama Account and KCB Foundation's 2Jiajiri or SME loans work similarly, and KCB is also a WEF disbursement partner, so a KCB group account can serve double duty.

Co-operative Bank - Runs women-focused lending (Biashara Boresha, and women's group loans) and is strong in Kajiado since Co-op has real rural reach there.

5. County Funds To Start A Business - Loan

6. Nyota Fund*

What I'd actually do first (in applying for funds) – in order

1. Form a chama/group with 10+ people that you can formally save with.

2. Register the group formally (self-help group certificate).

3. Start group savings/table banking for a few months, even small amounts, to build a repayment track record.

4. Write a one-page business plan: services offered, pricing, target customers, startup costs, monthly income projection. This one document unlocks WEF, Uwezo, and any bank simultaneously. (Inukamama can assist in reviewing and fine-tuning your business plan)

5. Apply to WEF( Women Enterprise Find) first, since it has the most active disbursement and a maternal focus on exactly your group profile.

6. Register for AGPO in parallel(as you also do WEF) , it costs nothing and pays off later.

Caution

Don't apply for funds in microfinance institutions like (KWFT – Kenya Women Finance Trust –, Faulu) as they have very high interest rates. Exhaust the options that are available/provided above first.