Volume 1, Issue 3, 2017

Launch of the Green Growth National Strategy

Environment stakeholders holding the Green Economy Strategy & Implementation Plan during the launch at

Karura Nairobi. Among them is H.E. Mette Knudsen, Danish Ambassador to Kenya and Prof. Judi Wakhungu,

Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources

The Kenya Government through the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources recorded a great milestone on 27th July, 2017 when it finally launched the Green Economy Strategy and Implementation Plan (GESIP) 2016 –2030. GESIP is Kenya’s blueprint for advancing a low

carbon, resource efficient, equitable and inclusive

socio-economic transformation. It’s launch was

timely amidst growing threats experienced from

environmental degradation and climate change.

The journey to Kenya’s transition to a sustainable

pathway can now be referenced in the launched blue

print document which comprises 5 thematic areas

and strategies namely: 1.Promoting Sustainable

Infrastructure; 2.Building Resilience; 3.Sustainable

Natural Resource Management; 4.Promoting

Resource Efficiency and 5.Social Inclusion and

Sustainable Livelihoods.

MESPT is a significant player in the green economy agenda and is erected on 3 pillars, one of which is Green Growth Development. We promote resource efficient, clean and climate-sensitive technologies and solutions within the agriculture value chains and at household levels with the aim of achieving sustainable development. These are aligned to various Kenyan green growth policies, SDGs and laws including the sanctioned GESIP. The Trust has perfected several cutting-edge approaches which have enabled thousands of households to participate in the journey towards the realization of a green economy.

Launch of Green Growth National Strategy …………..……………………………… 1

A Note to You.…………………………………………………………………………….………... 3

Corporate Briefs

Appointment of Board of Trustees ………………………………………………………. 4

A VIP Visit …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5

Going The Extra Mile…………………………………………………………………………... 6

Taking Stock of the Corporate Strategy ……………..……………………………….. 6

This is How You Rated us ……………………………………………………………………. 8

Corporate Events

Postponement of the Green Growth Conference & Exhibition …………… 9

13th BDS Conference ………………………………………………………………………… 9

Winning together at the ASK……………………………………………………………… 10

Opinion

The hyped Plastic ban …………..……………………………………………………………. 11

Youth Employability: Celebrating a Self Starter …………………………………. 12

Contact Us …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 13

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In This Issue

The Partner Newsletter

Esteemed Reader, In this issue, you will find a lot of information in the form of news, views and updates that steered the Trust’s work within the quarter. The information in the newsletter is now classified for better relation and readability; we hope you like what you see. The highlight of this issue is the feedback we received from the Customer Satisfaction Survey, conducted by an independent consultant. Key findings in reference to the research objectives revealed that customers were satisfied with our service delivery, with the accessibility of our products and services, our communication and stakeholder engagement. The category of customers most satisfied to least satisfied with MESPT were Exporters, Service Providers, Farmers and Financial Institutions respectively.

Customers however challenged us to engage them more on social media and emails in addition to the calls and field visits that we currently do, explore creative ways of enhancing ground presence, our brand visibility as well as diversification of product offerings among other recommendations. We are certainly on the right path and what we can promise is that the message is home and loud! Read on and let’s have your feed-back. Find us on social media and engage us accordingly!

Best Regards,

Ann Ngugi

Chief Editor: Priscilla Gathiga—Chief Executive Officer

Editor: Ann Ngugi—Corporate Communications Officer

Content Contributors in this Issue: Catherine Mutwiwa—LMEO HQ, Eliud Wachira—Snr Credit Officer,

Solomon Nyale-VCO Kilifi, Margaret Miano –VCO Makueni

Photo Credits: MESPT Staff

Design & Layout: Corporate Communications Unit

Distribution: CEOs office

Useful Links To access previous E-Newsletters & other publications:

https://www.mespt.org/2016-11-05-14-00-18/publications/mediacenter

A Note To You

Corporate briefs

Muriithi Kagai

Board Chair

Jacqueline Manani

Vice Chair Person

Philip Kisabit

Trustee

Philip Kisabit

Trustee

Minnie Mbue

Trustee

Michael Itote

Trustee

Elizabeth Matioli

Trustee

Jackson Kinyanjui

Trustee

Appointment of Board of Trustees

After delivery of great service for the past 3

year, the tenure of the board of trustees

serving MESPT came to an end. It was however

not yet time to go as all incumbents were

reappointed for another year.

Join us in congratulating them as we look

forward to their continued counsel in moving

MESPT forward.

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5

We had the privilege to welcome the visit of H.E.

Mette Knudsen, Danish Ambassador to Kenya and

H. E. Kivutha Kibwana, Governor of Makueni

County; who were accompanied by other

dignitaries to assess the Dairy and Passion farming

projects initiated by MESPT with funding from

Danida.

MESPT is piloting the Dairy Value Chain in Makueni

County. The county has an enormous potential for

milk production due to increased fodder

production. About 40 farmers who have been

farming mango fruits have embarked on a

collaborative journey with MESPT to test the new

waters breaking the myth that Dairy is preserve

practice for areas with a moderate climate, fertile

soils, reliable rainfall and adequate sunshine, all of

which ensure excellent growing conditions for lush

pastures, underpinning the production. The

farmers are members of Mukuyuni Dairy Value

Chain which MESPT assisted to reorganize.

To harness the farmers’ potential with the

objective of increasing jobs and household

incomes, the Trust has intervened by providing the

group with a bulking Chiller of 500litres and a back-

up Solar System that supplies energy to the plant.

MESPT has also facilitated 8 members to acquire

subsidized biogas digesters which they use for

cooking and lighting at their homes.

Being one of the leading fruit basket region in

Kenya, Makueni County farmers have also

ventured into Yellow Passion fruit farming. With

support from MESPT, the Mukuyuni farmers have

been facilitated with 4,000 passion fruit seedlings

for planting. The 2 projects are expected to not

only be successful but also beneficial to the

community in terms of increasing food security.

A VIP Visit

MESPT Makueni Staff Margaret & Job briefing H.E. Amb

Mette & H.E. Governor Kivutha Kibwana

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6

Taking Stock of the Corporate Strategy

“Never doubt that a small group of committed people

can change the World. Indeed, it is the only thing that

ever has. “ Margaret Mead

June 2017 marked the first half of MESPT

Strategic Plan 2015-2019 implementation.

The evaluation progress for the Mid-term

strategic plan review (past 2 ½ years)

immediately commenced to take stock of

achievement made towards the strategic

aims and objectives as well as to chat the

Trust’s focus for the next 2 ½ years.

The process is underway.

Going the Extra Mile

MESPT had the opportunity to participate in the Winrock and USAID conference “Going the Extra Mile; Lessons learned in fuel-efficient cookstove distribution and financing.” This was a close out event for Winrock’s USAID-funded Project - Developing a Sustaina-ble Cookstove Sector (DSCS), (2012-2017), which was held on September 12th 2017 in Washington, DC. The goal of the event was to share lessons learned over the past 5 years of the Pro-gramme implementation. MESPT was sup-ported to undertake financing for efficient cookstoves through Financial Institutions and distributors to make stoves more affordable and accessible for consumers in Kenya. The Trust was able to dispense Ksh. 21.9M

($219,000) for the uptake of more than 5,000

cookstoves. The program started in 2014 as a

pilot with a tripartite engagement between

Winrock, Burn manufacturing and MESPT. In

2015 however, Winrock awarded MESPT a

direct contract to execute the project.

MESPT staff; Eliud Wachira with other participants of the

event in Washington DC

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Clean Cookstove Market Acceleration Project The project aims at supporting stoves that meet Tier 2 performance (and above) of the ISO IWA

parameters. They have been tested and approved locally by KIRDI and use wood, charcoal,

bioethanol, briquette and pellet forms of fuel.

Wisdom Gasifier

Pallets/Briquettes/wood

Scode Fan Stove

Pallets/Briquettes/wood

Moto Safi

Ethanol Gel

Biolite Fan Stove

Wood/ dry biomass

Burn Jiko Koa

Charcoal

Envirofit Jiko Digital

Charcoal

Mimi Moto Gasifier

Pallets

Prime Stove

Pallets/ Granular fuels

For more information contact:

Tel: 0722 207 905| 0735 333 154

Email: Credit@mespt.org

Envirofit Super Saver

Charcoal

Safi Cooker

Bio– Ethanol

Financial Institution and distributors are called upon to apply for the following

facilities:

1. Green Technology Loan Fund

2. Result Based Financing

The Partner Newsletter

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This is How You Rated Us

Continuous improvement is one of our valued mantras and an indicator that we treasure feedback and live up to our commitment of supporting the growth and development of MSMEs. Earlier in the quarter we embarked on a Customer Satisfaction Survey which revealed an overall customer satisfaction level of 82%. The respondents in this survey were drawn from the counties that have benefited from MESPT Programmes. These 10 counties are Lamu, Kilifi, Taita Taveta, Kwale, Makueni, Machakos, Kitui, Kajiado, Nakuru and Nyandarua. Four variables were identified in this survey viz: service delivery; accessibility to products and services; communication; and stakeholder engagement. Customers were categorized into four; i.e. Farmers; Exporters, Financial Institutions and Service Providers. With a satisfaction index of 83%, customers revealed satisfied with our service delivery, a satisfaction index of 82% was noted in the accessibility to products and services,

satisfaction index of 81% was attributed to communication and 81% satisfaction index attributed to our stakeholder engagement. The take-home message from the survey is that our customers have a quest for a more personalized relationship that go beyond provision of services. The survey being the first of its kind to ever be undertaken since the establishment of the Trust will act as the baseline to expand our customer review program and leverage feedback to enhance personalized service delivery. From this exercise, we were also able to develop the service charter which is our promise to all our customers.

The Trust would like to appreciate all customers who took part in this exercise; you are a valuable resource for unbiased and truthful feedback that informs our future strat-egy and enables us to serve you better. without you, this wouldn’t have been possible.

The Partner Newsletter

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Corporate Events

Postponement of the Green Growth Conference

The 13th BDS Training & Conference

It is with much regret that we announce the indefinite postponement of the much anticipated 4th National Green Growth Conference & Exhibi-tion 2017. This is due to the prevailing political climate and particularly the declaration of the repeat presidential election in the month of October. Of equal importance was the

consideration of the unpredictable outcome of the said election which has made it impossible to propose of an alternative date. The conference was slated for 17th and 18th October 2017 at KICC, Nairobi. New dates will be communicated at an appropriate time.

The BDS Conference is a platform where develop-ment practitioners, entrepreneurs and policy mak-ers meet to reflect on growth of the markets, emerging opportunities and progress towards re-alization of development goals in the region.

The forum seeks to address the emerging mar-keting issues and takes lead in providing an annual learning platform to accelerate the practice of market development and value chain facilitation within Africa.

The Partner Newsletter

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Winning Together at the ASK

It is the dream of every producer and processor to get an

opportunity to market and promote their produce to

both potential and the current targets. Being cognizant

of this, MESPT participated in the Nakuru and Mombasa

Agricultural shows in partnership with various partners

and beneficiaries.

The Mombasa International Trade Fair being the 2nd

largest in the country and running for five days was very

significant to participants as they got an opportunity to

interact and exchange ideas with peers, they were able

to sell their produce and also acquire potential leads for

their businesses.

The event went down from 30th August to 3rd September,

2017. The theme for the show was “Promoting Innova-

tion & Technology in Agriculture and Trade.” All exhibits

were in line with the theme and because of the joint

efforts made, MESPT was recognized as the “2nd Best

organization in community service development.”

The Partner Newsletter

Opinion

BAN

The Hyped Plastic Ban

Plastic bags use have over the years caused an

environmental devastation as they are not part of

the natural life cycle. The impact of this waste is

witnessed in the clogged up drainage system

aggravating deadly floods, disquiet littering of our

beautiful landscape, threats posed to both domestic

and wildlife animals as well as the accumulation

waste floating in the rivers, lakes and our Ocean.

The hype around this ban was therefore necessary

and should be supported in the spirit of having one

great break! It is reported that most of the plastics

ever made exists today and might last forever since

plastic waste is one of the many that take too long

to decompose. Experts have noted that the plastic

bags we use in our everyday life takes 10-1000

years to decompose in landfills, while plastic

bottles can take 450 years or more. Considering

nobody lives this long, we should mind that our

plastic consumption and convenience culture pos-

sess greater threats to our community and genera-

tions to come.

The ban is timely and will help protect our environ-

ment by reducing plastic waste in Kenya which

constitute the biggest challenge to solid waste

management. Such a prohibition is not new in

Africa as several other countries have successfully

outlawed plastic carriers, including Rwanda,

Mauritania and Eritrea.

The fact at hand is that we are slowly achieving

environmentally sound packaging by exploring

alternatives such as fabric, fibre/ sisal and

biodegradable papers that have been innovatively

designed to become the eco-friendly reusable

alternatives meeting our needs.

Kenyans have certainly demonstrated the will and

resilience to overcome the challenge and this

move has opened up new business opportunities

for many!

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At 28 years of age, Raphael's

career is driven by

determination and passion

Raphael Mandela Machoka is a not your ordinary

Programmer/Software Developer. He has found a

niche in developing systems and applications that

solve problems affecting the agriculture sector

with an intention of helping farmers and their

households to leap more from their ventures.

Since his days in primary and secondary school,

Raphael was fascinated by computers of the 20th

century so much that he developed curiosity to

know what they were made of and how they

worked. He could research online and gather

information that helped his unravel so much at a

tender age. After high school, he enrolled and

graduated in 2013 from KCA University with a

Bachelor of Science Information Technology,

Software Engineering.

During his last year at the university, he saw an IT

job advertisement by Gakindu Dairy Cooperative

Society and he dared to apply. A pleasant surprise

came along when he was invited for an interview

and eventually landed his first job at the Dairy

Cooperative in 2014. The board and management

of the Dairy had the desire to see farmers achieve

more from their business ventures, and they

knew this would come through several

interventions among them being introduced of

new technologies in the dairy value chain.

Raphael embarked on digitizing Gakindu Dairy.

He established their website and started the long

journey of developing a Dairy Management Soft-

ware which saw light of day after MESPT

intervention. The software bundled up with

proper ICT Systems now links farmers located in

different collection centers to the Central Milk

Collection center at Gakindu Market. Further-

more, the Dairy management system is integrat-

ed to digital scales making data collecting easier,

more credible and ensures that dairy farmers are

able to track all their milk deliveries vis a viz pay-

ments and credits issued through automatic SMS.

A revolution that ensures real time data sharing &

flexibility.

These technologies in the dairy value chain have

truly transformed Gakindu dairy farmers’ lives

and the way of doing business. They have attract-

ed visitors from far and wide including outside

the country who come to learn of their successful

business model. Raphael Mandela is now widely

consulted by MESPT to help other dairy coopera-

tives replicate this successful innovation in their

businesses. He has also managed to develop Sac-

co Management Software, Hospital Information

Management Software and more that give lasting

solution to enterprises supporting farmers.

Youth Employability: Celebrating a Self Starter

The Partner Newsletter

13

www.mespt.org

@mespt1

Micro Enterprises Support

Programme Trust

Mespt.org

0722 207 905 | 0735 333 154

0715 797 575 | 0715 729 922

MESPT Plaza

Tausi road, Westlands

P.O. Box 187 - 00606 Sarit Centre| Nairobi

Mombasa Office

Harbour House, 3rd Flr, Moi Avenue

Voi Office

Mwamunga Building, Voi Town

Wote Office

Shadrack Muiu Building, 1st Flr

Nakuru Office

Chege House, Opposite Bontana Hotel

Embu Office

Fisheries offices next to Izaack hotel

The Partner Newsletter