Successful businesswoman, vegetable farmer and refugee camp are not words that usually go together in the same sentence but this is the extraordinary story of Kika, one of the 40,000 clients that we have served over the last 10 years across East Africa.

Kika is from the city of Goma, in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where she was growing and selling big quantities of fresh vegetables, thanks to the fertile volcanic soils in that area. She fled to Kenya in 2016 due to insecurity.

She settled in the Kakuma refugee camp,  located in the North-western region of Kenya. The camp was established in 1992 following the arrival of the “Lost Boys of Sudan”. During that year, large groups of Ethiopian refugees also fled their country following the fall of the Ethiopian government. Similarly, Somalia had also experienced high insecurity and civil strife causing people to flee. Today the camp hosts around 200,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, including those from the Great Lakes region of Africa like Kika. 

After two years in the camp and trying out different things she could do to provide for her family, Kika was naturally drawn back to her passion: farming.

Today, she is one of our successful clients in the Kakuma Settlement. From the initial working capital of $50 USD and 4 small plots of land, she has grown to a monthly sales turnover of $2,500 USD has expanded the farming to 21 plots of land, and employs 4 people. 

“I grow vegetables in Kakuma and this isn’t only the core of my business but it also helps people in my community to have a healthy balanced diet. I love farming and Inkomoko has been a great support to help my passion and my business grow,” said Kika. 

Thanks to a recent loan that she received from Inkomoko, she has been able to purchase pesticides and fertilizers, not for her only use but also for reselling to other nearby farmers and those in the nearest towns.