COVID-19 Left Her Husband Jobless. She Transformed Their Lives After Street Business School Training

Lucy Kagendo is a 56-year-old, vibrant, and hardworking mother of three. Lucy has a husband who is a pastor. Lucy never lacked because her husband used to provide for all her family’s needs. When COVID-19 pandemic struck, Lucy was immensely affected when the Kenyan Government implemented lockdown measures in all churches to help contain the spread of the virus. Her husband was left jobless, and there was no family income. At this point, Lucy was concerned about the shortages of food for her family in addition to the fears of getting infected with COVID. Lucy never dreamt of having her own money and independent goals different from her husband's at her age.

Lucy attended a HopeCore - Street Business School (SBS) training. The first module of “getting out of her comfort zone” touched her and ignited her passion for jumpstarting her life again to rescue her suffering family. After training in the first three modules, Lucy used the knowledge she had acquired from SBS to use her resources better.  She started selling bananas and avocados from her farm to start a business. She sold two bags of avocados at KES 700($7) each and a bunch of bananas at KES 300 ($3). She earned KES 1700($17) on the first day. After several months, her venture progressed, and Lucy built a shop and started a retail business. She makes at least Kshs. 1000($10) profit from her shop business daily, enough to take care of her family.

Lucy at her shop

Lucy attests that she has attended several pieces of training hosted by other financial institutions. Still, none of them has transformed her life as the street business one did.” SBS training has changed my life,” said Lucy.” It provided me with an opportunity to gain new skills and experiences and educate my community. “Lucy thanks HopeCore and SBS organization for impacting her life through the training.