During my visit to Kenya and participation to the 2018 TBN Conference, March 2018, we saw that a much greater emphasis needs to be given to the part that business and enterprise can play in reducing poverty.

Aids through charity encourages inefficiency and waste. We need to transform Business Culture, by:

  • Accelerating purpose-driven entrepreneurs
  • Mobilizing impact investment
  • Transforming business values

We have to break down the barriers that exist:

  • Between entrepreneur and investor, by changing the dynamics of power. Instead of a transactional relationship, it becomes a partnership, a collaboration for success.
  • Between rich and poor. For those who have prospered – being generous to mentor, by encouraging and investing in others. We need to restore dignity and empower the poor to improve their livelihoods.
  • Between international and local. Changing in each society must be led from within if it is to succeed, but those of us from other parts of the world can come alongside.

This approach reinforced again the idea that: “our differences are strengths on which we must build our future, not weaknesses behind which we can hide”.  

Field visits:

LIVEWELL
Entrepreneur: Liza Kimbo/Grace Kamero

Liza has a background in healthcare systems management. A seasoned healthcare social entrepreneur, she was a founder of Child and Family Wellness shops in Kenya, a franchise model organization that provided low cost diagnostic and pharmaceutical services to rural poor Kenyans. She later left this to start her own franchise network of low cost clinics to provide quality healthcare to the poor. 

These clinics are run by clinical officers who have proven themselves capable of running their own facility.

LiveWell provides support in setting up the new franchise and providing the systems to run it. They currently have 5 clinics within the network with 2 under their management. They have recently acquired a hospital serving flower farmers in Naivasha and are working to expand it.

 

MELCHIZEDEK

Entrepreneur: Simon Karo

Melchizedek Hospital was founded 11 years ago by the current chairman and his wife. They were both health practitioners. 

After the founder left medical service in the army, he decided to start a small clinic with his wife. With time, they saw the need to increase it to a larger hospital after which they moved to their current location. Simon took over the hospital when it was operating way below capacity.

Having just completed an MBA in Strategy, he came up with a good path to profitability. He chose to focus on hiring good doctors and this greatly improved number of patients visiting the hospital. The hospital has become a well-known and trusted brand among low and middle income earners. They are currently working on expanding the facility to include more specialized services such as cancer screening, and increase their in-patient facility.

 

[su_box title=”About TBN and the Impact Investment Summit” box_color=”#4F85C0″] Transformational Business Network (TBN) was founded in 2003 by Kim Tan and Stuart McGreevy, seasoned entrepreneurs and investors who wanted to shift the development paradigm from aid to enterprise. Since then TBN has grown into an international movement and leveraged its network of more than 2,000 members across 7 countries.
On 15th and 16th March 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya, over 200 entrepreneurs, investors and thought leaders gathered to collaborate on scaling business to create jobs, transform communities et  impact lives across Africa.[/su_box]