Kickstarting entrepreneurship and progress

KickStart, a non-proft that promotes technology and entrepreneurism in Africa, was among those honoured at the first Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls held recently in Washington D.C.

From our TOP Partner AllAfrica 

KickStart develops and markets simple agricultural tools that create business opportunities for Africa's rural poor. Organizers estimate that it has helped lift more than 600,000 people out of poverty since it started in 1991.

Among KickStart's successful innovations are the MoneyMaker Hip Pump and the Mobile Layaway service. The hip pump, designed to be lightweight and low cost, is a simple irrigation tool that allows women farmers to irrigate up to an acre of land even in the dry season, boosting the growth of fruit and vegetables. According to KickStart, more than 190,000 hip pumps have been sold.

The Mobile Layaway service enables poor farmers to pay off the cost of a pump - in installments of their own determination and in their own time - via a mobile phone. This program has been particularly effective in reaching women farmers, who make up more than half of Africa's agricultural workforce.

Presenting the awards, which are sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the Rockefeller Foundation, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised KickStart's innovations for "transforming agriculture for women by harnessing technology and spurring entrepreneurship".

The country manager of Kickstart Tanzania, Anne Atieno Otieno, joined the company in 2004. Since then she has overseen agricultural strategy discussions with the private sector and helped introduce appropriate technologies to help smallholder farmers. After the ceremony in March, Otieno spoke with AllAfrica's Trevor Ballantyne about her company's work and its effect on women and their communities.
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