My name is Grace Suge—a Kenyan by birth and a Fourth born in a family of five: four boys and myself. I am also a mother of one.

My parents were Civil servants in the police force. I was raised in a stable home and a staunch Christian background.

From a very young age, I devoted my weekends to church activities at the local Catholic church. I was baptized in 1988 and was a liturgical dancer at the church.

The civil servants in Kenya especially those in the police service have been known to earn meager wages but despite that and their meager earnings, my parents managed to put us through school which gave us a good start in life.

All through our primary and High school education. We were taken to day schools where we used to walk more than 2 Kilometers to and from school. I overcame all the challenges and now hold a Masters degree in business administration(MBA)-Finance and banking option.

I am a passionate and energetic social entrepreneur whose targets are consumers at the bottom of the pyramid. Having been involved in the sugar supply in rural areas of Kenya, I felt fulfilled. I became more energized after a better understanding of low-income earners' need to innovate ways to leapfrog them from extreme poverty using scalable solutions that were available to me.

From my experience in sugar supply, I discovered that although the Kenyan government introduced rural electrification and World bank sponsored electricity grid years ago, it never completely solved the Energy and lighting challenges experienced in the rural areas. People were still using kerosene lamps, which apart from being expensive were not environmentally friendly. The government thus zero-rated import duty and removed Value Added Tax (VAT) on renewable energy equipment and accessories. To take advantage of this, and in partnership with Total Kenya-major suppliers of solar lanterns- I have started supply of the lanterns to my customer base and the prospects of success look bright.

Loan Proposal

Keen to expand my investment in renewable and alternative energy and in line with the global strategies of combating climate change, I introduced solar lantern distribution in my locality and afield in 2019. And, to improve on my cash flow I plan to add stock in my enterprise to realize approximately $30,000 in revenue per year.

Taking advantage of my extensive network of customers, I plan to utilize the loan proceeds to buy 20 units of the S300 solar lanterns retailing at Kshs.2,500 ($17) and 100 units of S20 variety retailing at Kshs 900 ($ 6). I am again humbly seeking funding from our Zidisha community. Kindly support me in my endeavor to illuminate the households of my Kenya community by providing affordable and clean energy as we leave a zero-carbon footprint in our environment.