From Seedlings to Trees

Njenga and Mary Kimani have 3 young children and live on a small plot of land outside of a market town in central Kenya. Like so many Kenyans their future was bleak and they had to try starting a business just to survive. They saw a high local demand for tree seedlings and decided to start a small tree nursery next to a busy road. But using buckets to water the seedlings from a stream was backbreaking work.

Then one day they saw a KickStart SuperMoneyMaker pump for sale at a local shop. They saved money to buy the pump and with it they tripled the size of their nursery in less than 3 months. They soon started growing vegetables and potted plants and employed three local street boys to help with the work. They bought a dairy cow for milk and manure, diversified into selling concrete blocks, and built an office with a telephone to coordinate the sales.

Their small business was suddenly big and now their Juja Tree Nursery's biggest challenge is meeting the local demand. The KickStart pump has transformed their lives and as new leaders in their community the couple is teaching a group of local youth to start similar small irrigation businesses.