Catholic Sisters drawn from five congregations within Kenya have been trained in entrepreneurship in order for them to improve their skills and capacity in their daily businesses.

The training which was organized by the Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa Sisters Blended Value Project was attended by the Benedictine Sisters of Divine Providence, Handmaids of the Holy Child of Jesus, Franciscan of Elizabethan, Missionary Benedictine of Tutzing and Daughters of the Sacred Heart.

In her remarks during the opening of the training, the outgoing ACWECA Finance Officer, Sr. Grace Betty Atim said for more than a year now sisters have gone through the Sisters Blended Value Project (SBVP) stages of discernment, farm enterprise and now proceeding to apprenticeship and can bear witness that these stages have raised them into greater heights.

“You no longer do business as usual; you have now created a culture of innovation and creativity in your congregations and you are able to acknowledge that as Social Entrepreneurs you will always come up with solutions that are sustainable,” she told them.

Sister Betty Grace Atim encouraged sisters to make use of all opportunities in the training for the service of the poor and for the glorification of God in His creation and to tap the knowledge and skills in order go back home not as consumers but as agents of transformation.

“We are all here to ensure that we come up with our own answers which will enable us to sustain our charisms and impact positively on the lives of the people we serve and protect mother earth,” she said.

she added, “As we venture into SEs, it is necessary to reflect on how we initiate change in our Institutes, how we exploit resources we have, our direction of investments, the orientation of technological development and the need to have good structures, even reading the signs of the times to bring transformation in our institutes and the people we serve in a more sustainable manner”.

On her part, the Sisters Blended Value Project Coordinator, Sister Celestine Nasiali of Oblates of the Assumption (OA) said the workshop which is being supported by Hilton Foundation – Catholic Sisters Initiative is aimed at equipping sisters with knowledge and skills in financial businesses which is crucial in their day-to-day undertakings.

Sr. Celestine is hopeful that the training that the sisters had is going to bring change in their businesses.

“We hope and trust that the training that the sisters went through is going to help them be more social entrepreneurs, to give an impact in the community where they have established their social enterprise,” she said.

One of the facilitators Gideon …said the experience with the sisters was good and encouraging.

“I believe that the knowledge that the sisters have received will help them improve their businesses and even help them build better business plan so that when presented before potential investors they will be convinced on how to get funding for their businesses and be able to expand more and more”.

Mr. Gideon Lyomu, marketing associate from Tapona Foundation encouraged sisters to persist in their businesses saying a business that is aimed at reaching the community brings more impact and more joy to the lives of people and even more fulfilment to those holding the businesses.

Sr. Lusina Ngeny, OSB one of the participants appreciated ACWECA for organizing the training saying it was rich and an eye opener on how farming can enrich the society through the efforts of the religious women.

Speaking on behalf of other participants Sr. Mary Simiyu, Handmaids of the Holy Child of Jesus said the training they acquired from ACWECA will go a long way.

“We will strive to implement and put into practice what we have learnt during the training. We will continue working on our business plan, implement our projects, sensitize other religious women about ACWECA and the activities that they carry out and give feedback to our sisters in different communities especially our administrators,” she said.

In her closing remarks, the incoming finance officer, Sr. Stella Kanyunyuzi thanked Tapona Foundation for sharing knowledge with sisters.

“We have gone through the financial literacy class so we can now make cashflows, income statements, balance sheets for our social enterprises.  We can now calculate the various taxes which applies to our enterprises, we can calculate the years when our social enterprises can break and be able to pay back so in brief we are going back as experts and please don’t get surprised if we as ACWECA call upon you to come and make business plans for us because now you have become expertise,” she said.

 “You are now fully empowered and ready to continue on with evangelization.  This has been an opportunity of learning, you have to share this knowledge with the other sisters in your various communities and it is through our social enterprises that shall promote the spirit of collaboration and sharing not only socially but sharing of spiritual, human and economic resources among ourselves and others so as to strengthen evangelization.

The training was held at the Association of Consecrated Women in East and Central Africa (ACWECA) Secretariat, Rongai in Kenya.