Village Enterprise Series (3 of 4): The Vision Trip

This post is the third in a series where we will be profiling the work of Village Enterprise and more specifically, following one of their team members, Whitney, as she travels to Africa and walks us through their amazing work.

Village Enterprise is an organization working to eradicate extreme poverty in East Africa through their innovative program that equips people with the skills and resources to establish their own small business. Whitney is the Marketing & Development intern, who will be spending the next month traveling around Uganda and taking us through the Village Enterprise program.

Be sure to check out the first post and second post in our series. 

Whitney finished the Vision Trip earlier this week and if you have been following along at the Village Enterprise Impact Page, you probably have seen all the amazing stuff she and her team are up to.

For those who haven’t been keeping up to date, here is a quick re-cap: Whitney arrived in Uganda two weeks ago and has been leading a group of donors on a Vision Trip. This trip takes the group through the entire Village Enterprise business creation program, from identifying groups in need to business training and mentoring and even visiting some of the successful businesses created through the program.

We love following Whitney on her incredible journey and so we decided to show off some of our favorite photo updates from her:

Here is Whitney at the SFO airport getting ready for her first trip to Africa. We especially love this photo because it actually is the first official photo update uploaded with the Karma Store Camera App!

“We attended a disbursement to 30 businesses today. It was such an incredible experience handing them their Village Enterprise grants!” 

Business mentor Doreen at Mukura Madoch Village. She did one-on-one mentoring with each group, checked their books, and gave them a stamp!

The one-on-one mentoring is a critical part of the program as it equips the entrepreneurs with business knowledge and skills that can be applied to future endeavors and passed down to others.

Business owners from near and far gathered to show off their livestock! These women received their grant over one year ago!

A true testament to the success of the Village Enterprise program!

Today I pumped a can full of water at a well we walked past during a field visit. The woman was able to rest for a moment and hold her baby.

Those were only a few of our favorites. To see all of Whitney’s photos, check out the Village Enterprise Impact Page and be sure to show your support by sharing it with friends and family.  

Village Enterprise Series (2 of 4): The Journey Begins!

This post is the second in a series where we will be profiling the work of Village Enterprise and more specifically, following one of their team members, Whitney, as she travels to Africa and walks us through their amazing work.

Village Enterprise is an organization working to eradicate extreme poverty in East Africa through their innovative program that equips people with the skills and resources to establish their own small business. Whitney is the Marketing & Development intern, who will be spending the next month traveling around Uganda and taking us through the Village Enterprise program.

You can check out the first post here.

The real journey begins today! Whitney is arriving in Uganda this afternoon and will spend the next day getting settled and meeting the team working on the ground. On Saturday, she will begin the Vision Trip, which has her leading a group of donors through the entire business creation program.

The group will attend several meetings, training classes and business mentoring sessions, as well as visit some of the local businesses that were established through the program. Whitney will be capturing this two-week tour via the Village Enterprise Impact Page, giving you a complete look into the entire process.

New Impact Page

We are also excited to announce that Village Enterprise launched their Impact Page this morning. This Impact Page gives you an in-depth look into Village Enterprise and their unique approach to ending extreme poverty.

You can check out their Impact Page here:

http://karmastore.org/i/villageenterprise

Whitney has already taken her first photo of her trip (which also happens to be the first official photo uploaded using our Camera App). This is only the first of many, as she documents her work and travels through Uganda. Be sure to continue checking the Village Enterprise Impact Page for those updates.

Please show your support for this amazing organization by sharing their Impact Page with your friends.

Village Enterprise Series (1 of 4): Whitney’s Journey

Today is an exciting day for us here at Karma Store! We are very proud to announce our newest partnership with Village Enterprise, an awesome organization helping people in East Africa lift themselves out of extreme poverty.

This partnership comes at a very special time for Village Enterprise as their Marketing & Development intern, Whitney, takes her first trip to East Africa to assist the development and operations teams in the field. Over the next few weeks, we will be posting a series of articles focusing on Whitney’s trip to Uganda and her work on the ground. We want to give you an in-depth look into how Village Enterprise is creating long-lasting solutions to some of the poorest regions in the world.

About Village Enterprise

Village Enterprise is taking a unique approach at eradicating extreme poverty by equipping individuals and communities with the knowledge and resources to create sustainable businesses. Their core program focuses on identifying the poorest individuals in the local village and working directly with this group to educate, train and prepare them to start and maintain their own small business.

These businesses range from agriculture, to retail, to craftsmanship, but all of them are developed by the participants and are structured to have a long-lasting impact on the community. Aside from the actual businesses being created, the most valuable assets Village Enterprise provides are the education and skill-sets involved with managing a successful business. This knowledge can be applied to future endeavors, as well as passed down to other community members, helping future generations break out of the cycle of poverty.

Our Village Enterprise article series will help you understand the full impact of this innovative program, presented by  Whitney as she travels to Uganda and works with the team in the field. She will be walking us through each step of the Village Enterprise core-program, giving you an in-depth look at the participatory wealth ranking, the business training meetings, the one-on-one mentoring and much more. To document her travels, Whitney will be using the Karma Store Camera App (which we just launched for Android) to update the Village Enterprise Impact Page.

This is only the first in a series of posts we will be doing as we follow Whitney and her work in Africa. We will be covering the highlights of her trip, but if you want to follow the full story, be sure to check out their Impact Page launching later this week.

You can learn more about Village Enterprise and their awesome work via their website, Facebook and blog.