Beyond Funding: The Power of Community During Uncertain Times
The Covid-19 pandemic was a game-changer for many businesses, as entrepreneurs had to quickly pivot or entirely shut down due to government restrictions and safety orders. 2019 East Africa Fellow and social entrepreneur Bernadette Muyomi from Busia, Kenya — whose business relied heavily on in-person interactions — is one such example. Bernadette is a recipient of the Acumen COVID-19 Emergency Facility (AEF): a fund created to support businesses adversely affected by the pandemic. She and her team wasted no time making good on Acumen’s funding opportunity and found new ways to give back to the Acumen community following their successes.
Bernadette is the Founder of Green Agri Ventures Ltd (GAV), a social enterprise that empowers rural entrepreneurs to improve their financial literacy, access credit, and benefit from opportunities that enable socio-economic transformation.
Before the pandemic, Green Agri Ventures was on a promising trajectory. They were finalizing talks with investors for funding that would accelerate their business. When Covid-19 hit, these talks paused as investors felt the company was a high-risk business. At the same time, Green Agri Ventures had been seriously considering investing in technology to make it easier for entrepreneurs to access their services.
These plans came to a halt when Busia County, which had the highest cases of Covid-19 in Kenya, went into complete lockdown. To curb the spread of the virus, the Kenyan government also closed the one-stop border point in Busia that connects with Uganda.
The decision to close the border adversely affected Bernadette’s customers. At least 20% of their customers were rural entrepreneurs who engaged in cross-border trading. Entrepreneurs who made their living selling items like cereals and foodstuff across the border had to shut down and find other alternatives.
“One of our customers was a tailor who operated near the border. When the pandemic began, her business was adversely affected because she produced school uniforms. When the government closed all schools indefinitely, orders stopped coming in, and she had to close her business and relocate to a rural area to survive,” explains Bernadette.
“We had a whole chain of entrepreneurs who were fish vendors. The lockdown meant they could not transport their products to Nairobi and other major cities. They had to sell their products at throw-away prices, and some had to stop selling altogether,” says Bernadette. “We also had minimal access to open-air markets, which the government had closed. The silver lining in this is that most of our vendors engage in multiple ventures, so they have alternative ways of earning a living.”
While the world was crumbling around her, Bernadette worried most about her team. She had made a heavy investment in team development in the last two years and was afraid she would have to let them go.
“When you have a good team, you can always rebuild once things get better. But here I was faced with the reality that I would not be able to pay my team if things continued like this,” says Bernadette.
Her team also felt helpless. As they watched the situation unfold, and things continued to worsen, the team knew their customers could not repay their loans, which affected Green Agri Ventures’ bottom line.
The stress of trying to keep the company afloat while still leading her team often kept Bernadette up at night. She had not yet confided in anyone about what was going on. She worried that if she told her team how bad things were, they would feel discouraged. She also believed that in times of adversity, there is an opportunity to grow or learn something new.
As the situation worsened, it was time to have a courageous conversation with her team. They discussed worst-case scenarios and concluded that if things did not improve, the entire team would have to be let go.
“The company’s situation was so bad at the time that we lost hope as each day passed. Just when we thought we were on the brink of shutting down, I received the email requesting applications for the Acumen Emergency Facility,” she says.
A NEW OPPORTUNITY ROOTED IN COMMUNITY
“The pandemic had changed things. At a personal level, we were all affected by Covid-19 — we were staring at the possible deaths of elderly family members and friends. I myself thought about how I was going to survive this pandemic as an individual,” says Bernadette.
The last thing Bernadette expected was a new funding opportunity. While she was surprised that Acumen had thought to support their community during a time that was difficult for everyone, Bernadette quickly felt a real sense of belonging: Acumen understood what they were going through, and they were taking action to help.
She knew her best bet was to apply for the Acumen Emergency Facility.
She was surprised by how rigorous the application process was. The Acumen team asked her many questions, which enabled her to identify loopholes in her business model. To Bernadette, this was a co-creation process between Acumen and Green Agri Ventures: it helped her company refine their pitch to attract long-term investment in the future.
Bernadette instantly felt at peace when she got the news that Acumen had approved funding for Green Agri Ventures. The emergency funding quickly resolved the pressing need for resources and allowed her to keep her team. As they focused on rebuilding the business, Bernadette promised herself that the chance Acumen had taken on her would not go to waste.
The team gave themselves six months to strengthen operations and doubled their fundraising efforts. With most of their time spent on resource mobilization, Green Agri Ventures raised an additional $100,000 from two other institutions.
The additional funding enabled them to be at the center of lobbying efforts to reopen the border, which would allow their customers to continue trading.
“AEF was very catalytic for our business. It saved our business and protected the livelihoods of most of our entrepreneurs. We were able to thrive amid all the chaos around us,” she says.
With the new capital, Green Agri Ventures wrote off bad loans and only focused on performing ones. They also took the opportunity to start a spin-off company, Green Agri Ventures Credit, which works with rural entrepreneurs to support their business growth through customized financial literacy, investment, and other financial products.
LESSONS LEARNED FROM ADVERSITY
As Bernadette reflects on her experiences throughout the pandemic, she takes away lessons that will serve her in the future.
First, she learned that companies need to be flexible when designing interventions to meet the needs of their customers or community members. She notes how Acumen responded to the needs of Acumen Fellows like herself, by introducing a funding opportunity that enabled them to survive the pandemic. Apart from funding, Acumen knew their community needed moral support and reassurance — an invaluable piece that allowed Bernadette and others to persevere.
The second lesson she learned was the importance of community. While she knew that to get through moments of uncertainty, entrepreneurs had to be resilient, she also learned that having the right community around them means everything.
Bernadette is grateful for the support she has received from the Acumen community so far and particularly appreciates the Good Society Readings (GSRs) that are part of the Fellowship program and community events. She dreams of the day when she’ll be able to financially contribute to the Fellowship. For now, she continues to support the community in her own small way.
“One of the additional funding facilities I received was very flexible and allowed me to use it in whatever way I saw fit, so long as I showed the impact. I decided to support two Fellows from the Acumen community by sending them part of the money as they were also going through tough times. As an entrepreneur, thinking of ways to grow your business is impossible when you do not know where your next meal will come from. This was my way of giving back”, she says.
