Kocho: Making soap - and a difference - in Kakuma Camp
Meet Kocho, who joined Amala’s Social Entrepreneurship course through Amala partner Faulu Productions in Kakuma Camp.
“I intended to do a business course and gain skills, but I really benefited from the Social Entrepreneurship course, in the way I was learning, and that it was benefitting the members of my group and the community.”
The course also sparked a longer-term ambition for Kocho: “I want to join a business studies course at secondary school as a follow up, and become a businessman in future.”
Through our Social Entrepreneurship Course, Kocho gained skills in managing and developing a project and presenting to others. As part of the course, students had the opportunity to pitch their ideas for seed funding. Kocho and his team of five pitched their idea for a low-cost, community-led soap-making business, and were awarded the funding to scale up their initiative.
The idea came from a clear need Kocho had observed in the community. “In Kakuma, people need soap,” he explained. “Soapmaking would not let me and my crew members down. In other places in Kakuma, like supermarkets, soap is expensive. We buy sixty litres of liquid soap at an affordable price, and then sell it to the community at an affordable price too.”
Today, the group has around 40 regular customers, a mix of individuals from the community, family members, and those who buy for their restaurants. The project isn’t without its challenges: some customers can’t always pay upfront, which affects the stability of the business. “Sometimes, we lend our customers money for a month by giving them the soap. This is a way for us to keep customers and have our project continue,” he said.
Despite this, Kocho remains determined to keep going. “I’m planning to continue the project,” he said. “I’m not going to stop it because it has such benefits to the community. I hope to make it stable, and maybe scale it in future.”