Kenyan Entrepreneurs Combat Climate Change to Transform Livelihoods with iDE

In the drought-stricken village of Kiusiana in eastern Kenya, water is hard to come by. Nearly every day, Fedha Kyevo, 55, travels more than five miles to fetch water from a town well — sometimes by shared motorbike or on foot with jerry cans strapped to her back.

Her homestead sits in an arid region where climate change has led to erratic rainfall. At the same time, rivers, lakes, and underground water reserves are steadily drying up. Like water, electricity and other essentials are also expensive out here. 

But through her work as a smallholder farmer and post-harvest service provider, Fedha has transformed her circumstances. “I used to take loans just to buy food when the crops failed,” Fedha said. “Now, I shell maize for others. My income has increased four times over.”

A maize farmer, mother, and entrepreneur, Fedha’s work ethic has made her a leader in her remote community. In 2023, she joined 60 other rural Kenyan entrepreneurs who have begun using modern, post-harvest machinery, with support from iDE, to make farming more efficient.

As part of the She Feeds Africa program, iDE has supported Fedha by supporting her gain access to machinery and loans, and trained her to operate a maize sheller — a portable, high-capacity machine that processes up to 1,500 kg of maize per hour while minimizing grain breakage and spoilage.

Because growing maize in these dryland regions demands significant time and effort, Fedha quickly built a business using the shelling machine to assist local farmers, who now hire her rather than do the post-harvest work by hand.

“I shell for three farmers in a day, and I’m not just earning — I’m building my business,” Fedha said. The machine, designed for remote, off-grid locations, can be transported by motorbike, reaching remote farms.

In Kenya, agriculture accounts for 33 percent of gross domestic product and supports more than 70 percent of the rural population. Yet, food insecurity remains high with nearly 28 percent of the population reported as undernourished in 2023. The situation is compounded by post-harvest losses of up to 30 percent, partly because of limited access to modern processing tools — especially for women.

That’s why iDE is providing entrepreneurs – particularly women – with access to agricultural technology, tailored training and support to the needs of micro entrepreneurs, enabling them to boost their profits from crops like maize, millet, and cassava. Many are now expanding their businesses to produce fortified flours, peanut butter, and animal feeds that command higher prices in the market, while also building stronger market linkages to scale their impact.

In Fedha’s case, iDE helped her access to a Ksh 70,000 (about US$540) loan, powering her to buy her maize sheller, which she repaid it within a year. Using the machine, Fedha now generates about Ksh 150,000 ($1,160) per 100 kilograms of maize during harvest. Serving an average of three farmers a day, each with 20 bags, she earns around Ksh 9,000 ($70) daily.

In a good season, her income reaches Ksh 225,000 ($1,740) with a profit margin of Ksh 135,000 ($1,040). She also earns from aggregating grain, milling, and selling farm inputs, while farmers report stronger incomes from working with her.

“iDE conducts capacity assessments for entrepreneurs to identify gaps, which we address through participatory training and delivery approaches,” said Geoffrey Nyamota, iDE Kenya’s team leader.

To scale this model, Nyamota said iDE engages successful entrepreneurs like Fedha to recruit, train and mentor others, while partnering with financial providers to offer blended financing that supports women and other less bankable but impactful entrepreneurs from primarily western and eastern Kenya. 

iDE’s value-addition work equips entrepreneurs with technology and skills to produce fortified flour and peanut butter, marketed through Facebook, WhatsApp, local shops and schools. For a majority of iDE entrepreneurs, this continued support and training has helped business owners like Fedha increase their profit margins fourfold.

In 2024, women entrepreneurs working with iDE across Kenya processed more than 2.9 million kilograms of grain—representing 80 percent of all grain processed since the project’s inception and marking a 61 percent increase over the previous year.  Moreover the work generated $27,243 in revenue during the same period. Each of the 3,771 smallholder farmers involved—80 percent of which are owned by women-headed households – earned an average of $1,000 in additional income.

Importantly, as climate change threatens Kenyan crops and food security, the need for localized, community-driven solutions are essential to help smallholder farmers like Fedha and millions of others stay sustainable and resilient to shocks. 

Helping her community adapt to droughts and floods, Fedha trains farmers in regenerative agricultural practices, demonstrating each method on her own land. Techniques such as Zai pits, composting, sunken beds and climate-resilient crop varieties have led to more reliable harvests and quicker adoption among her neighbors. 

“Since I started working with iDE, I've shared my skills to 60 local farming groups and seen how farming increases incomes in my community,” said Fedha. “In my experience, women are more likely to use that money to pay school fees, reinvest in their families, or buy something valuable like a cow.”

By improving soil health and water retention, these practices not only boost yields but also reduce vulnerability to extreme weather. Women from nearby farms often spend time with Fedha—sometimes working as employees—while learning skills they can take back and apply to their own fields.

In Western Kenya, Entrepreneur Fred uses entrepreneurship to build back against floods

Along the shores of Lake Victoria’s floodplain in western Kenya, just five minutes from the Ugandan border, Fred Andera, 64, is facing the mounting threat of climate change. In 2020, heavy floods tore through his village of Mukhobola, destroying homes, sweeping away farms, and displacing families. Fred’s homestead—built on raised ground—remained standing. It became a refuge.

“Even the elders can’t predict the weather anymore,” he said. In 2025, people still gather at Fred’s house—but now for different reasons. It has become a hub for agricultural advice, skills training, and the center of a growing community savings group.

With support from iDE and partners like Hello Tractor and the Cereal Growers Association, Fred—father of seven, grandfather of one—now owns and operates two maize shellers, a tractor, and a rice mill. “We’ve come from disaster to building something that helps others,” he said. Through his business, Fredica Service Center, Fred serves more than 500 farmers, providing maize shelling, ploughing, and training on everything from land preparation to postharvest storage. With iDE’s support, he secured certification for his enterprise and accessed a loan to purchase his shellers—paid off in just six months.

Though farming along the floodplain remains uncertain, Fred says the enterprise has brought stability.“I feel as if I’m securely employed. I have money in my pocket, and I’m able to put food on the table. I’m also proud because the farmers’ production has gone up.” As leader of the local savings group, Kazamuwendo, Fred mentors others on hybrid seeds, fertilizer use, and climate-smart agriculture. The income from his work has sent three of his children to university.

Since joining iDE in 2021 as part of the Zinpro funded Seeding the Future project, Fred has expanded operations across Busia, Siaya, and Kakamega counties. Each week, he travels across the border to Uganda to provide postharvest support. “We used to wait for government people to come teach us,” he said. “Now, we are the teachers.”Erratic flooding—driven by climate change—continues to threaten crops and livelihoods in lakeside communities like Fred’s. But he is not working alone.

“We pair highly successful entrepreneurs with newly recruited entrepreneurs to practically get skills and linkages to markets, thus improving their ability to profitably run their businesses,” adds Geoffrey. “iDE uses the one-to-many approach. One entrepreneur offers a suite of services to farmers—usually reaching more than 500 farmers per season. Our strategy of engaging entrepreneurs reduces our cost of reaching clients directly.”

His eldest son, Amos Andera, 30, began operating machinery with him in 2022. A trained veterinarian, Amos now travels during the postharvest season, supporting farmers across the region. “I want to train them step-by-step, from preparing the land to harvesting,” he said. “During planting season, we encourage farmers to use hybrid seeds, certified varieties, and nutrient-rich fertilizers. We want them to succeed.”

In eastern Kenya, Fred is helping his community adapt—offering postharvest services, sharing digital marketing know-how, and transferring business skills to the next generation. His work has helped create a more consistent source of income, even as hotter, drier summers threaten to bake the soil before crops can take root.

With iDE training, Fred has diversified into sorghum, soy, and groundnuts—crops more resilient to Kenya’s increasingly unpredictable climate.

“The weather will betray you,” he said. “But if you dry your grain well, you have something to stand on.”

Through its inclusive, market-based approach, iDE creates ripple effects that improve food security, promote climate-smart practices, and build resilient livelihoods in some of the world’s most remote and climate-vulnerable communities.

“The use of entrepreneurs to offer services for a fee is a sustainable model,” said Geoffrey Nyamota. “Farmers continue to access a range of services at a modest cost, which in turn motivates entrepreneurs to keep their businesses running long after iDE’s direct support ends.