Village Enterprise Fund, Inc.

Our ultimate goal is to help rural Africans, over 80% women, lift themselves out of extreme poverty by increasing household income and savings. Results of two independent randomized controlled trials and a recent longitudinal study proves that our program leads to sustained and increasing impact for entrepreneurs and their families, with an 83% increase in consumption and a 933% increase in savings over the five-year period (leading to lasting improvements in food security, healthcare, mental health and wellbeing, amongst other things). We implement the most cost-effective graduation approach in the African context (540% lifetime benefit/cost ratio), building resilience and tackling the most difficult challenges facing the continent today including climate change, forced displacement, food insecurity, gender inequity, and the youth bulge.

We have experienced tremendous growth in the past five years, training twice as many first-time entrepreneurs than we trained in the five years prior. Simultaneously, our operating budget has grown by 280% and our staff team by 340%. While increasing our coverage in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia, we are also expanding our work in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Congo-Brazzaville. To bolster our growth, we are partnering with local and national governments and non-governmental organizations that enable us to quickly and effectively scale our proven model. This has allowed us to launch the Delivering Resilient enterprises and market systems (DREAMS) for refugee in Uganda and Ethiopia; scale up the NAWIRI project to reduce child malnutrition and expanded our partnership with Wildlife Conservation Society to reduce poverty, poaching, and deforestation in the DRC and the Republic of the Congo. Additionally, we are developing a poverty graduation and climate resilience outcomes project in partnership with the government of Rwanda to accelerate the adoption of results-based financing in the poverty alleviation sector.

From FY24-FY26, Village Enterprise will equip over 188,000 people living in extreme poverty to start 60,000 businesses, transforming the lives of 1.128 million people through direct implementation. Our ultimate objective is to reach 20 million people by 2030 (cumulative).

Led by a cross-functional, cross-office, cross-position team, we engaged all staff and Board members in developing our strategy. This has resulted in a truly unique strategy with a breadth and depth that would have been absent if we had worked with our management team alone. Supporting entrepreneurs onto a pathway out of extreme poverty will remain at the heart of what we do. We have five strategic priorities in our FY23-FY25 strategy that will allow us to accomplish our goals. We will collaborate with partners, design, adopt, and scale digital solutions, invest in our people, promote and facilitate results-based funding for poverty alleviation, and increase our role in collective action and advocacy. In order to be successful, we plan to raise $60 million in income over the three-year period.

Our new and ambitious three-year strategic plan focuses on the following five priorities:

1.) Equip 230,000 new entrepreneurs living in extreme poverty to start 75,000 sustainable businesses, with the goal of lifting 1.5M individuals in Sub Saharan Africa out of poverty by 2025, while promoting gender equity and ensuring minimal negative environmental impact.
2.) Partner with African governments and NGOs to drive advocacy efforts and scale up evidence-based approaches for economic inclusion, building upon the Village Enterprise poverty graduation model.
3.) Revolutionize small business development for the extreme poor in rural Africa through digital solutions that are developed in partnership with our entrepreneurs and technology partners.
4.) Continue to build a world-class team of Africans that exemplify our core values of ubuntu, passion, innovation, integrity and sustainability and lead at every level in our organization.
5.) Unlock funding for innovation and scale and play a leadership role in driving adoption of results-based funding for poverty alleviation.

We know that our strategy is incredibly ambitious. We believe that this is essential, giving the growing number of people living in extreme poverty. We also believe that this is possible if we collaborate with others who share our vision of a world free of extreme poverty.

Village Enterprise has a proven track record and is recognized as evidence-based and cost-effective by industry leaders, including Impact Matters, IPA, and The Life You Can Save. Capitalizing on our results, and the expertise we have developed from our 30 years of experience implementing economic inclusion programming, Village Enterprise is uniquely capable of playing a leadership role in the poverty alleviation sector. Our distinctive track of success that demonstrates our capabilities include:

-Evidence of cost-effectiveness and impact with two RCTs (2014-2018 by Innovations for Poverty Action and 2017-2021 by IdInsight) and internal adaptive management system.

-30 years of experience working in Sub Saharan Africa (99% African staff - 440 staff total) with a deep understanding of the contexts and challenges facing the communities that we work in (for example: refugees, climate change and protected areas, women, and youth) and how to adapt to these challenges. To date, Village Enterprise has trained 274,000 entrepreneurs, started 80,100 businesses, and impacted the lives of over 1,684,400 women, men, and children living across rural Africa.

-Exceptional African team of diverse, dedicated, and passionate leaders to drive our unique, locally adapted program with strong values-based culture.

-Data-driven decision making and performance management using TaroWorks mobile app for data collection and the Salesforce database for data management. We track and evaluate our businesses and savings groups’ performance via award-winning dashboards as well as monitor the implementation of activities and performance of our field staff. We use adaptive management techniques to constantly improve our poverty graduation program and maximize the impact on our entrepreneurs’ lives.

-Unique expertise in co-designing and implementing the first DIB in poverty alleviation, exceeding its ambitious targets, sustainably improving the livelihoods of 95,000 East Africans.

-Experience working with African governments: Kenya Social and Economic Inclusion Project, West Pokot Economic Justice Program, and an MOU with the Government of Rwanda in place.

-Innovation and adaptation through human-centered design and lean testing in cross-cutting issues, including climate change and conservation work.

-Collaborative approach to partnerships: extensive experience with conservation partners such as the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and others, to develop conservation-friendly and climate-smart micro-enterprises.

-Recipient of the Larsen Lam Iconiq Award, leading the development of a $19.6M DREAMS for refugees project as the prime with Mercy Corps and IDInsight as partners. The DREAMS model for poverty alleviation won Fast Company’s 2023 World Changing Ideas Award for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

As of August 2023, Village Enterprise has trained 274,000 entrepreneurs, started 80,100 businesses, and impacted the lives of over 1,684,400 women, men, and children living across rural Africa. The majority of that impact has occurred in the last five years, which have been a time of incredible growth and innovation at Village Enterprise. On top of deepening our impact in Uganda and Kenya, we’ve expanded our work to Rwanda, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, and Mozambique. We have also made significant improvements to our program, including the implementation of a powerful adaptive management system, a streamlined and more interactive training curriculum, and the use of digital technologies such as videos and mobile cash transfers to improve our efficiency and impact. Additionally, our organization has grown from just over 100 employees in 2017 to a world-class team that is 441 members strong (97% in Africa) in August 2023 and growing quickly.

These improvements and the hard work of our team led to many of our biggest achievements of the past five years, including:

-The success of the Village Enterprise Development Impact Bond, which was proven to have cost-effective, sustained impact for 95,000 women, children, and men in Uganda and Kenya despite the many challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

-New strategic partnerships with local and national governments to incorporate our graduation model into government programs in Kenya and Rwanda.

-$19.8M in funding secured for DREAMS for Refugees, which will impact the lives of more than 200,000 people in Uganda and Ethiopia.

We are fully committed to ending extreme poverty in rural Africa by equipping the most vulnerable women, men, refugees, and youth with skills and resources to launch sustainable businesses, build assets and savings, and adapt to the threats posed by climate change, conflict, and future crises. Through results-based funding and collective action with local and national governments, NGOs, funders, and private sector companies, we plan to impact the lives of 20 million people by 2030.