Regina’s journey into urban farming was sparked by an initiative led by the NGO Save the Children, where she gained both the idea and skills necessary to build a sustainable urban farming business. Regina has transformed an urban space into a thriving agricultural hub at the intersection of entrepreneurship, sustainability, community, and nutrition.
Regina’s business attracts a steady customer base from her neighbours, who regularly purchase her produce. Beyond providing a source of income for her family, Regina’s urban farm ensures a healthy food supply, reducing overall food expenses and supporting better nutrition within her community.
Her aspirations extend to acquiring larger land parcels to expand her farming operations, envisioning a diversified agricultural enterprise that incorporates both vegetable cultivation and animal husbandry. Regina advocates for incorporating agricultural education into school curricula, believing that increased knowledge about urban farming can lead to healthier eating habits and reduce malnutrition rates among the population.
The importance of the informal economy in Kenya cannot be overstated; it accounts for 24% of Kenya’s GDP and also employs five times more workers than the formal economy.
TRANSFORM has been working to understand the current realities and future possibilities for the millions of entrepreneurial Kenyans who hustle to sustain livelihoods across the informal economy (read more about the context of the work here).
Brink, Procol Africa, Busara, Laterite, Ideas Unplugged, and TRANSFORM have collaborated throughout to deliver this work, alongside hundreds of ecosystem actors and informal economy entrepreneurs.
These blogs offer an insight into the lives of some informal workers we spoke to over the course of the project, told through images.
