Over the years, local young people, as well as refugees and former Kivuli children who for various reasons could not be reintegrated into their families of origin, have been assisted to start small businesses in wood carpentry, metalwork, catering, auto garage, wood carving, tailoring, batik, football making.

Although these economic activities are in some cases started using initial capital from the Centre’s EEP-Sacco, the owning groups are given operational space within the Kivuli Workshops, and are allowed to run them in complete autonomy.

These groups produce batiks, carvings and tailoring products which are sold locally and internationally. In Nairobi, their items are sold at the White Gazelle Shop at Shalom House, Nairobi’s Yaya Centre Mall and Masai Market. Internationally, Fair Trade organizations buy and distribute the items in foreign countries.

EEP Sacco

The Kivuli Employment and Enterprise Programme Sacco (EEP-Sacco) is a unique cooperative society for low income earners in the local community. It was initially established in 2003 as a microcredit programme to assist single mothers - especially those whose children were undergoing  rehabilitation at the Kivuli Centre - to start economic activities that would enable them obtain earnings to support their children. It was expanded in 2003 to provide credit facilities to the poor and marginalized segments of the society, and by then, it had already created new opportunities in life for more than 120 women.

In addition to its core business, the Sacco trains its clients with practical skills that will enable them manage their savings and small-scale commercial activities before extending loans to them. Although its main target groups include women, former street children, unemployed youths and people living with HIV/AIDS, its doors are also open to small entrepreneurs, refugees, ex-convicts and small-scale farmers.