How vending machines are making life better for Kenyans

Programs like Motor City Match and Grown in Detroit help entrepreneurs launch Black-owned food businesses in Detroit. The businesses sell healthy foods in neighborhoods often lacking in nutritious options or in the infrastructure needed to support startup businesses. The supportive programs offer grants and training that have nurtured dozens of new businesses, which themselves have formed a supportive network among their peers.

Hundreds of millions of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa live on a mere two dollars per day, making it difficult to not only support themselves and their family, but also stay relevant in a market that requires expensive equipment. Hello Tractor, an "Uber-meets-Salesforce" app, helps smallholder farmers gain access to the use of fellow farmer's tractors and operators while also supporting the growth of the youth employment.

Environmental degradation and drought have led to conflict, poverty, and severe food insecurity in Kenya’s Baringo county. Hand In Hand International is helping communities rebound by offering training to women in entrepreneurship and new farming methods - particularly beekeeping - which provides economic empowerment, improves the ecosystem by boosting pollinator populations, and provides a steady source of nutritious food for those families eking out a living in these harsh landscapes.

The GIRL-H program provides skill training and business assistance to youth from marginalized communities. Participants receive education and training in an area of their choosing and once they complete the training, they receive start-up capital to help them start their own businesses. The program has helped over 6,000 youth learn a new skill and start an entrepreneurial venture.

To combat unemployment, the Girls2Women Initiative runs 6- to 12-week training programs for girls and women in underserved communities in Nigeria. During this time they learn skills they can use to find a job or start their own business in industries like graphic design, decor, and tailoring.

The nonprofit Africa Research Association Managing Development teaches communities in Obanliku, Nigeria, to run their own businesses in things like gardening, soap making, and marketing, and helps establish cocoa cooperatives to keep them from depending on deforestation for income. The program also requires communities to designate parts of the forest for conservation and trains members to protect those areas.

Generating Income For Tomorrow, or GIFT, works to foster economic prosperity and wealth in Kansas City’s Black community by providing grants to Black-owned businesses. Since its launch, GIFT has distributed $687,000 to 42 Black businesses and GIFT recipients have so far created more than 60 new jobs.

A new model for cooperatives guarantees a living wage for house cleaners, removing the uncertainty and exploitation typically associated with the gig economy. Up & Go is an app that brings entrepreneurs together as owners of the cooperative - sharing offices and customer service representatives. Wages for their work have almost doubled in comparison to the jobs they found through fliers. Training has also given workers the knowledge to stay safe in addition to keeping their clients from exposure during the pandemic.

Pakistan's poorest citizens, who previously panhandled for their basic needs, were launched onto an entrepreneurial path by the Heritage Foundation Pakistan. Eight impoverished communities have been trained in the craft of glazed tile work and terracotta art to lift the participants out of poverty. The program also created a market of interdependence, so the villages can purchase goods from one another, freeing them from relying on cities for their livelihood.

In 2016, the city of Rochester, NY partnered with Kiva—a crowd-funded microlender—to serve aspiring or established small-business owners. Their partnership offers interest-free loans, and already 20 of the loans have been fully repaid. This article looks at six different case studies of residents who have benefitted from the program.