Chambers Federation first investment prospect was in Kenya. Kenya is a country with great potential. There are varying business opportunities that can be enhanced from vast natural resources, skills and cultural diversity. Women’s unemployment and gender inequality are major factors pushing women into vicious cycles of poverty making them vulnerable to social exclusion and crisis. According to the millennium development goals report 2010 in sub-Saharan Africa, 51% of people live on less than $1.25 a day and the depth of poverty is great. For women, poverty is a major barrier to education, especially among young women. It is estimated that 60% of the poorest young school girls are three times more likely to be out of school compared to those from the wealthiest families. Gender equality in terms of distribution of empowerment opportunities are biased especially for women.  Approximately one out of five paid secured jobs are occupied by women even when women represent a large share of waged workers.  Women are mostly employed in vulnerable jobs as unpaid family workers or as own-account workers—with no or little financial security or social benefits.

Chambers Federation saw the need to support women by challenging these issues and improve the lives of women throughout Africa.

 Vision

ELL envisions a sustainable, profitable business to support women and youth, to effectively and efficiently expand to the rural areas of Kenya, and eventually surrounding areas, providing the strength and power of its supporting company, the Chambers Federation, to those most in need of training and the long term ability to provide for their families.

 Mission

To transform youth and women’s lives by providing a platform to self-sufficiency and financial independence, through attaining entrepreneurial and financial management skills.

Objectives

• • Ensure that women participate positively in actively to achieve the vision 2030 and millennium goals.
  • To create an enabling economic environment for the women from various backgrounds
  • Train women to be self-sufficient and financially independent
  • Help women understand the impact they can have towards the development of the country in ways greater than the large numerical strength they posses
  • Create awareness through training and capacity building that will help boost women’s self-esteem and maximize their potentials
  • Advocate for and promote women’s economic empowerment

  Key objectives

  • ELL will re-invest company profits back into the communities which support the company by identifying new or existing businesses needed in those communities. This creates a more solid foundation and compounds the efforts to support women and youth.

Project Activities

Empowerment Lighthouse Ltd intends to engage in the project of promoting overall advancement toward achieving the MDGs and Reducing Human Poverty by:

• Enabling the women identify viable business opportunities; develop a criteria for making an informed choice amongst the identified business opportunities. Using the developed criteria, select the most suitable opportunity and convert it into a viable enterprise by initiating a startup process by acquiring necessary inputs and managing them professionally.

At the same time, the project would promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in partnership with other organizations by:

• Supporting enterprise diagnosis and provision of technical support so that capacities are built at enterprise levels.
• Enhance linkages for access of vital resources they need to grow their business through training, information sharing, marketing and financial access.

In the project, ELL will seek partnership with development partners, women organizations and the government in establishing Business in the Community Centre. As a result, women and the youth can easily secure sustained business advisory support so that the enterprises run today succeed and grow.  Chamber Federation will seek to mobilize technical expertise from within and outside, to support women entrepreneurs.

Through the project, Empowerment Lighthouse Ltd, development partners, women organizations and the government will emerge as advocating for change and connecting the vulnerable to knowledge, experience and resources to help them build a better life. ELL, development partners, women organizations and the government presence would be felt on the ground, working with local communities to help them achieve the millennium development goals of 2015 and other development challenges.