Kenya - Business creation project

Describe your project or startup in a few words

This project will benefit public school-going children in Kenya, no more walking to school.

01.01 Describe your project in more detail

In Kenya people mainly use public service vehicles(PSVs) to get to their daily duties, we mostly pay a cost of between 1$-2$ per trip. This is a high price to pay especially since about 80% of Kenyan workers are informally employed, thus, approximately 46 percent of people in Nairobi walk because the existing PSVs and motorcycles are not always enough and affordable for the low-class citizens. Worryingly in Kenya, going to school is a dangerous affair for most children, as though the first consumer chooses to rise early 4:00 am to get affordable transportation and to save up that extra cost they trek to work and many of these adults’ fellow pedestrians are schoolchildren, who congregate at the sides of busy streets, uneven terrains and or unguarded roadsides in groups, walking to school or waiting for a form of transport to ferry them or to cross safely. School children in Kenya trek for miles to school e.g. from 6:00 am and between 3:00 pm to 6:30 pm.

01.02 What is the main problem you are trying to solve?

The problem plaguing the Kenyan transportation industry is that there exists no cheap reliable, safe, and affordable form of transportation for public school-going children. These schools owned by the local devolution governments within the counties, flock with children from all backgrounds but mainly from middle – very low-income earners, are affordable, and cost-effective for these families because of the government-sponsored free primary school education system in Kenya, the parents have meager options for school choices. The pertinent problem is the safety of the children while they journey a few miles to school 5 days a week, many of them are not accompanied by an adult. Questions are: what time do these children wake up and leave their homes to get to school on time? Secondly, how safe are they from road carnage or predators? Thirdly, why are they not accompanied by their parents, and are the parents able to afford their transport to school?

01.03 Tell us the major benefits and/or advantages of using the product/service that your project intends to provide (at least 3).

Safety of children walking to and from school daily, early arrival to school, and mentally able to study without feeling exhausted. Reduce the rising cost of transportation charges for school bus fees to parents/guardians in Nairobi extending to Kiambu county. This service will aid hardworking Kenyan parents to plan for a maximum amount of 1$ a day for transportation to and from school, thus providing an easily accessible form of transport for public school-going children.

01.04 Please describe who exactly your project is aimed at serving. Who are the targeted beneficiaries?

This problem serves public school-going children and their parents. In Kenya people mainly use public service vehicles(PSVs) to get to their daily duties, we mostly pay a cost of between 1$-2$ per trip, for most citizens the price is high since according to statistics 80% of Kenyan workers are informally employed, thus, approximately 46 percent of people in Nairobi walk to their various jobs because the existing PSVs and motorcycles are not enough and affordable for the low-class citizens. Yet, with close to half (46%) of Nairobi’s commuters walking each day, this poses a huge issue of cheap and affordable transportation for Kenyan workers/commuters daily. Those living in some of Nairobi’s poorest communities, such as Mathare and Kibera counties are unable to afford the charges as they live under minimum wage, and a high percentage of their children attend public schools because they are cost efficient.

01.05 When did you start working on your project?

2021-04-04

01.06 How many other partners are associated with your business venture?

0

01.07 Among the other partners, how many are female?

0

01.08 Please describe the profile of each of the other partners (skills, experience, etc.)

No other partners in the business venture, the business is in its ideation stage.

01.09 If you have a website, a social media page (Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin…), or app, please provide the link here:

N/A

01.10 Which industry best describes your project?

c) Industry (equipment, commercial, logistical and professional services, transport)

02.01.01 My project contributes to the No poverty goal

4

02.01.02 No poverty - Justification

02.02.01 My project contributes to the Zero hunger goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.02.02 Zero hunger - Justification

02.03.01 My project contributes to the Good health and well-being goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.03.02 Good health and well-being - Justification

02.04.01 My project contributes to the Quality education goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.04.02 Quality education - Justification

Children are a vulnerable group of road users; they are therefore highly at risk in any situation that involves unguided road use. This solution reduces the impact of road accidents associated with children, and stranger danger situations. With this solution parents and the schools can keep tabs on the safety of the children and also monitor class attendance, thus offering peace of mind on the security of their children and improving performance at school as they will focus better as they don’t come into class too tired from a long trek.

02.05.01 My project contributes to the Gender equality goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.05.02 Gender equality - Justification

02.06.01 My project contributes to the Clean water and sanitation goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.06.02 Clean water and sanitation - Justification

02.07.01 My project contributes to the Affordable and clean energy goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.07.02 Affordable and clean energy - Justification

02.08.01 My project contributes to the Decent work and economic growth

5

02.08.02 Decent work and economic growth - Justification

Through this project, we shall be able to create employment in transport services in Kenya.

02.09.01 My project contributes to the Industry innovation and infrastructure

7 - Strongly Agree

02.09.02 Industry innovation and infrastructure - Justification

This solution will adapt to current but basic technological trends achieved through the use of USSD code to register and ultimately access the transportation service, whereby the consumer books the service through a certain code number, and pays the fare using mobile money. Why USSD codes because they are free and cheap on the consumer’s end and the response is sent back to the phone, generally in a basic format that can easily be seen on the phone display. USSD is generally associated with real-time or instant messaging services. And due to the reason that most of the consumers of this product use basic feature phones, as a few of them access smartphones. As of 30th September 2021, the number of mobile phone devices accessing mobile networks stood at 59.0 million, out of which 33.0 million were feature phones and 26.0 million smartphones. The penetration levels of feature phones and smartphones stood at 67.9 percent and 53.4 percent respectively. However, the solution will be dynamic

02.10.01 My project contributes to the Reduced inequalities goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.10.02 Reduced inequalities - Justification

02.11.01 My project contributes to the Sustainable cities and communities goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.11.02 Sustainable cities and communities - Justification

The solution to the described problem is called Hbus (Helper Bus) it will offer an affordable and reliable form of transportation for consumers experiencing a challenge in transport, the targeted customer segments are parents and children from public schools.

02.12.01 My project contributes to the Responsible consumption and production goal

2

02.12.02 Responsible consumption and production - Justification

02.13.01 My project contributes to the Climate action goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.13.02 Climate action - Justification

02.14.01 My project contributes to the Life below water goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.14.02 Life below water - Justification

02.15.01 My project contributes to the Life on land goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.15.02 Life on land - Justification

02.16.01 My project contributes to the Peace justice and strong institutions goal

4

02.16.02 Peace justice and strong institutions - Justification

02.17.01 My project contributes to the Partnerships for the goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.17.02 Partnerships for the goal - Justification

our project will require a partnership between the national and local devolution governments in Kenya as this will involve public schools and the Kenyan government is heavily invested in the free primary education system in our country. The private sector will involve companies that sponsor accessible education facilities through capital infusion into the education system in Kenya.

05.01 There are a large number of customers who already use a product/service very similar to the product/service we envision creating.

4

05.02 The product/service we envision creating represents an entirely new type of product/service.

5

05.03 The product/service we envision creating could be described as a new technology.

5

05.04 The product/service we envision creating is an improvement on an existing product or service.

4

05.05 The product/service we envision creating could be described as an extension of a range of products or services.

1 - Strongly Disagree

05.06 The product/service we envision creating responds to a demand or need that has not been satisfied by other products/services.

7 - Strongly Agree

05.07 The product/service we envision creating is a new version of an old product/service.

1 - Strongly Disagree

05.08 Justification

Our project is unique in that we will adopt simple technology in software development through the use of Unstructured supplementary service data (USSD), a communications service controlled by mobile network operators, which is a critical piece of infrastructure used to provide mobile financial services on most phones, at low cost, and without requiring access to the user’s SIM card. Why USSD? not many consumers are well versed in digitalization because the access to smartphones to download applications, the use of the internet, and access to airtime for data services are costly to the consumer. According to research, USSD is currently the best available communications technology to deliver mobile financial services to low-income customers.

05.09 Who are your main potential competitors and what makes you stand out from them?

Our main competitors in Kenya are: PSVS(public service vehicles) – 191.67 million $, 55,355 licensed, 2.3 million people use Matatus to Nairobi every week Boda boda (PSV motorcycles) riders earn 10$ per day, on an average of 15 rides per day, there are 1.2 million riders in Kenya and 9 – 10 cycles are used for commercial purposes. 291,553 riders service Nairobi. Nairobi Commuter Train – 20,000 commuters per day 50 KS per trip. SWVL Kenya- Covered 300 routes to over 55 destinations which provided commuters with direct rides to CBD. Taxi-hailing services - are mainly used by middle to high-income earners for work and personal activities., Private School buses - used by private schools What makes our product stand out is the fact that most of these services are expensive and are mostly not used by the children's parents for daily transportation to the school.

10.06 Are you initiating actions within your community to promote the role of female entrepreneurs?

Yes, 75% of our casual hires are women.