Busu Naturals is an innovative SME that designs locally fabricated emollients for sensitive African skin. It emerged as the winner during the Visa She’s Next Kenya Grant Competition. The program is engineered and sponsored by Visa to offer funding, training, and mentorship; it ensures a diverse setting that empowers women who run businesses.
Winners and Awards
Busu Naturals took the top prize of KES 2.5 million. The first runner-up, Timao Group, and the second runner-up, Code with Kids, each walked home with KES 2 million and KES 1 million, respectively. Crafts with Meaning and Cladfy each won KES 500,000 for the great performance that they had.
According to Eva Ngigi-Sarwari, the country manager for Visa Kenya, the recognition of these exemplary SMEs is something that makes her proud. “We are very excited to announce the first-ever winners of our She’s Next Kenya grant competition. We are really proud to recognize SMEs which have demonstrated some really jaw-dropping innovation, resilience, and vision, which is going to be quite beneficial when they will certainly drive to contribute positively towards the Kenyan economy,” she said.
This win means everything,” says Emma Omany, CEO of Busu Naturals. “This win means much for us because of the confidence that it gives us, affirms we are on the right track. It shows that small steps matter and everything done to date aids our mission. Support through this grant and training will help grow our capacity and expand our market reach.”
Profiles of Winning SMEs
- Busu Naturals: Locally manufactured emollients for sensitive African skin, drawing on indigenous botanicals and traditional beauty practices from the diverse ethnic groups in Kenya to create safe, consistent, and high-quality skincare products.
- Timao Group: Solves plastic pollution and affordable housing challenges in Kenya by turning plastic waste into robust, low-cost construction materials for the realization of prefabricated housing.
- Code with Kids: Empower kids from low-income backgrounds to learn, innovate, and succeed in an affordable and accessible setting of STEM education; break socio-economic barriers that would otherwise prevent their progress.
- Crafts with Meaning: Award-winning social enterprise working alongside artisans in Kenya and Uganda to produce African heritage-inspired home décor products, lifestyle accessories, bags, and corporate merchandise.
- Cladfy: This company bridges the credit gap to sub-Saharan Africa’s informal sector by ensuring that micro-lenders can afford to provide working capital loans to micro-businesses such as smallholder farmers, fish vendors, motorcycle riders, among many other professions.
The She’s Next Kenya Grant Competition underlines Visa’s commitment to the success of women entrepreneurs in their strive to seize opportunities and attain requisite resources, tools, and mentorship. As the program furthers, it sets a benchmark for future efforts to empower women in business and drive economic and societal progress in Kenya and beyond.