KENYA INNOVATIVE MANUFACTURING SPACE AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
KIMSSEA
THE NEED
Individuals facing difficult economic realities innovate daily as a way of life. Coming from disadvantaged backgrounds like urban slums, conflict areas, remote rural settlements and refugee camps, they convert adversity into creativity. They turn networks into informal economies, upcycle unused goods into circular supply chains, and create their own prototypes with improvised materials and tools. The people with the most potential to solve problems and create livelihoods in these settings are those who live in them.
Located 20 minutes from the Greater Nairobi Metropolitan Area, KIMSSEAs central hub location in Kitengela, Kajiado County is a booming industrial area with a young workforce and easy access to both urban and rural Kenya.
These hidden innovators represent an untapped market of entrepreneurial talent. They are unable to realize their potential because they lack access to and buy-in from investors, manufacturing infrastructure for production at scale, and mentorship for growth and passing through regulatory hurdles. For both these hidden innovators and for social impact entrepreneurs with traction, there is a paucity of physical spaces that can take their ideas the full journey from conceptual stage to small-to-medium-scale manufacturing.
The longer that the entrepreneurial potential of these hidden innovators goes unrealized, the longer that issues of food, water, and energy insecurity perpetuate poverty and poor health in their communities.
OUR SOLUTION
KIMSSEA is a for-profit social enterprise with a two-pronged approach of manufacturing infrastructure and startup incubation to catalyze the formation of solutions to unmet needs in Kenya’s vulnerable populations. 13 years of experience in social impact entrepreneurship in Kenya has led us to identify 5 key areas where we see the biggest untapped market niches for this work.
KIMSSEA Portfolio Streams
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Water & Sanitation
Health & Wellness
Energy Security
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Food Security
Affordable Housing
The 5 portfolio streams provide alignment for the manufacturing of products made by social impact start-ups and the incubation of new ventures from KIMSSEA innovators.
Innovative Manufacturing Space
21,780 square feet of factory space with hydraulic presses, mixers, kilns, power tools, and hand tools available, allowing for small-to-medium scale manufacturing capacity at the KIMSSEA facility.
Tenant companies rent space and equipment to manufacture their own proven products, leveraging KIMSSEA as a production and distribution launchpad. They also function as entrepreneurs-in-residence that provide a model of realistic success for KIMSSEA innovators.
Social Entrepreneurship Academy
KIMSSEA identifies the best and brightest from disadvantaged backgrounds such as urban slums, refugee camps, remote rural settlements, and conflict areas who are then enrolled in an incubation program that equips them with resources to overcome their barriers to entrepreneurial success.
Mentorship and expertise for growth and regulatory navigation.
Opportunities for networking and seed funding.
Technical and income-generating skills training.
The social entrepreneurship academy is a comprehensive pipeline for growing ideas into successful, investable enterprises that enter high-impact market spaces and manufacture at scale.
OUR PROGRESS
1.
Construction of the KIMSSEA manufacturing space was completed in February 2023.
2.
The first KIMSSEA tenant company has moved their production into the facility and is the current entrepreneur-in-residence.
3.
Partnership established with Good Foundations International to offer a vocational skills program to Kenyan women.
GROWTH ROADMAP
Launch of 3 cohorts of the social entrepreneurship academy by 2024.
1.
Secure the second tenant company to rent the manufacturing space by 2024.
2.
Now accepting innovators to mentor, train, and fund KIMSSEA entrepreneurs.
3.
PARTNERS
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