ANDY CEO`S REFLECTION ON MEETING CORPORATE ORGANIZATIONS IN TODAY`S BREAKFAST MEETING

When i set out to attend today`s meeting in the morning organized by VSO Jitolee,i had different thoughts in mind on realizing that my presentation wasn`t going to be made verbally but rather inserted in the information pack for the participants to take it away;interestingly,i ended up creatively making the presentation by way of asking questions on how can we partner with corporate organizations to ensure persons with disabilities get internship opportunties,what`s the right time to contact the corporates and who do you seek to talk to? It ended up being very useful including learning what Barclays Bank and General Motors Ltd are doing to support such initiatives.

One gets the sense of it from their perspectives that truly,how i am going to entertain your idea at the end of the month when what i should be doing is to justify my salary for that month?How i am going to take up an intern yet the workload at the office is too little to require additional hands?

Both of the participants who responded to my question encouraged us to do a background check/search through their websites or even call directly inquiring of a specific topic and in that way,when you approach them,you are doing so at the right time when you can get their valuable time and desired attention to reach an agreement on formats of engagement.

General Motors East Africa talked of their initiative and commitment to take in persons with disabilities and an internal effort to accommodate persons with disabilities within their workfoce.They have specialized facilities to accommodate employees with disabilities.The representative talked straight indicating that,it does not however mean because one has a disability;that they will be taken in only for that consideration,they have to be qualified and show what value they will be bringing to the Company when they intern or are hired.

Barclays Bank also stated that they indeed have a policy that ensures they follow inclusive measures and on that,they do hire persons with disabilities.The representative ably mentioned to me how many staff have disability in their employ and the deliberate efforts they put in ensuring that they workforce is as inclusive as possible.

I even found more reasons as to why we do the Access to Work project that is supported in partnership of AbleChildAfrica and Comic Relief where we seek to build the confidence of graduates with disabilities looking for employment and those planning to start their own small scale businesses for self-reliance.

The fear of employing a person with disability who brings a victim mentality to the workplace was touched on and this is really what we are mentoring our participants to watch out for;It is their skills and competencies that is going to get them that dream job and not a mere fact that they have a disability and thus needs to be considered alongside others who apply and merit the same consideration.

VSO Jitolee was elaborating on their strategy on how corporate bodies can engage their staff in volunteering their time in the communities as a sustainable way of ensuring impact in communities where they choose to do their CSR activities,moving away from one-off photo opportunity with a dummy cheque and really not caring about what impact that brings in the longer term.

We have several ways through which we can partner with corporate institutions to enable them fulfil their CSR objectives while ensuring that there is value in the investement they make in the communities we work in.That brings me to the difference in the bottom-line between the corporate and civil societies: While that of the corporate is,how much leverage are we getting in return of our investment and how does that reflect on our balance sheet when we speak with the shareholders;that of the civil society will be,what impact does the investment realize,how many people are benefiting sustainably and what impact does that have to the work & business of the corporate that is supporting such initiatives in the community?? When this is well balanced,you will find out that everyone is happy and the community feels proud of the existence of the particular corporate institution,a seed of developmental sustainability is hence realized.

It is therefore our desire and intent to partner with willing corporate institutions both here in Kenya and abroad to ensure that we bring a lasting impact to the lives of thousands of persons with disabilities in Kenya and that might even be simply in a way of:

1. Volunteering your staff to come and give a motivational talk to our entrepreneurship training sessions on a selected them
2. Giving a talk during our sports training sessions only lasting upto 30 minutes to support the participants as we improve their skills in various ways
3. Sponsoring our sporting activities to enable us expand our reach.
4. Supporting sports tournaments that can bring exposure to the individuals participating in the various sports and also creating awareness around disability issues
5. Providing internship opportunities to our participants and signing as mentors
6. Becoming friends of ANDY

For this and more opportunities that we can work together,please feel free to contact the Executive Director at info@andy.or.ke or call us on 020-2324589 or 0715 613 602 ( we are located at 16th Floor,Hazina Towers)

You can also follow our on Twitter and on facebook and learn more about our work @ www.andy.or.ke

Moving Theories into Practice; towards economically empowering young disabled people in Kenya.

Everyone working in the development field is more concerned on how they can turn their great ideas into practice, thus lending credence to theories advanced as project proposals with a possibility of demonstration using evidence realized through implementation.

This is exactly what Action Network for the Disabled (ANDY) has been working on over the months since gaining the confidence of both International Youth Foundation and Starbucks through a $10,000 grant meant to provide training opportunities for 20 young disabled people to acquire entrepreneurship skills, business support and start-up capital.

The project has completed training all 20 young people in entrepreneurship skills each of them receiving individualized support in coming up with a business plan to be considered for business start up support from the project.

Given varied knowledge levels amongst the participants and different types of disabilities, the process of training in business plan making took long than anticipated thus delaying the action of giving out the start-up capital to those qualifying so that they can start their implementing their business ideas.

This project has really provided a learning opportunity on how to structure a project that will genuinely impact the economics of persons with disabilities both now and in the future. Through the individual approach system of training availed to all participants, six participants were able to graduate through the process in April 2011 and immediately qualified for the start-up capital. Both of them are in the second month of running their businesses and excited at the opportunity provided by this support so far.

Joseph Kinyanjui has a physical disability and is amongst the first beneficiaries who have already received the start-up capital; armed with his electrical engineering; Joseph now runs a mobile phone repair and selling accessories and will be looking at how to expand the same in the near future since he has a good customer-base.

Caroline Akinyi is another beneficiary of the training and amongst the first lot to receive the start-up support, through her business plan, Caroline who has a physical disability, proposed to start a water vending business in the slum thus fulfilling a basic need for the residents while getting an income for herself since the area has a problem of not receiving tapped water. The project worked with Caroline to get all necessary government document required to start this kind of business successfully. While the business has started off well, Caroline has indicated a need to have a large water storage tank so that she can store some water and still sell it when the supply is not available in the area during water rationing seasons and ANDY is considering offering this strategic support to make her business become sustainable. This business will make Caroline economically independent over the time thus enabling her to negotiate her choices as a young woman with a disability living in an urban slum of Nairobi.

Mary Auma is an excited young woman; the possibility of starting her own business was far-fetched previously since nobody could believe in her ideas to run her own food vending business. Thus it was a blessing when she learnt of the project being undertaken by ANDY and quickly enrolled. Mary worked with her trainer diligently showing the greatest interest given the missed opportunities by the fact that she had a disability and thus, no one could trust her with support to successfully run a business. She excelled and joined the first group that received the start-up capital to launch their business; she is now receiving mentorship while actualizing her business idea ANDY is currently working with the remaining 14 project participants giving support in business plan development so that they are ready to be given the required start-up support during this month to launch their ideas, this team has enthusiastic young people determined to make it in business and earn a decent income of their own despite having different types of disabilities.

From ANDY`s perspectives, we are seeing the importance of investing in the future of this young disabled people who would have otherwise remained on the margins of the society while they have the energy, ideas and determination to participate in the economic activities of their society and lift themselves out of poverty despite having a disability. It has clearly been demonstrated to us why most of economic activities taking place in our country needs to mainstream issues of people with disabilities so that they can equally benefit from support offered to other entrepreneurs by both the Government and private organizations and become actively engaged in creating solutions through their business ideas.

Through this support, we are able to provide evidence that indeed; if well supported, people with disabilities have the same chances of succeeding in business and coming out of poverty as anyone else and would like to thank Starbucks and International Youth Foundation for proving this foundation upon which the evidence is being adduced.

Fredrick Ouko is a YouthActionNet Fellow 2009/2010 and Executive Director of Action Network for the Disabled