The Mama Mboga Transformation

Strengthening Informal Traders Through Business Development Services (BDS)

At Raising Hope Centre, we believe that empowering informal traders is one of the most effective ways to foster sustainable livelihoods and community resilience. In Kenya’s informal economy, Mama Mboga, the resilient women who run small vegetable and produce stalls, are the unsung heroes of local commerce. Yet, they often remain excluded from access to business knowledge, financial services, and structured market opportunities.

Our approach to Business Development Services (BDS) places women, especially widows and low-income traders, at the center of enterprise development. Through targeted interventions that combine entrepreneurship training, financial literacy, and savings group formation, we aim to transform informal traders into confident, capable microentrepreneurs, a journey we proudly refer to as the Mama Mboga transformation.

Why Focus on Mama Mboga?

Mama Mboga traders are pillars of food security in many neighborhoods, yet they operate in a space marked by uncertainty, limited support, and financial exclusion. At Raising Hope Centre, we recognize that these women are not just traders; they are breadwinners, community builders, and caregivers. Supporting them with structured BDS is not just a matter of economics, it’s a matter of equity.

We are particularly intentional in our work with widows and single mothers, many of whom turn to informal trade as a survival strategy. Without access to networks or training, these women are left to navigate complex business environments alone. That’s why we design our programs to be inclusive, accessible, and deeply rooted in community realities.

What Business Development Services Look Like for Informal Traders

Our BDS model is tailored for women in the informal economy. We focus on:

• Customized Entrepreneurship Training
  Practical business skills training delivered in accessible formats and local language, covering topics like stock management, customer service, pricing strategies, and goal setting.
• Financial Literacy & Savings Group Formation
  Introducing concepts like budgeting, record keeping, and digital mobile money use, while helping participants form and manage rotating savings and credit groups (ROSCAs).
• Peer Mentorship & Group Coaching
  Creating safe spaces where women can share experiences, ask questions, and receive feedback from facilitators and peers.
• Market Exposure and Confidence Building
  Encouraging participants to see themselves not just as sellers, but as businesswomen with long-term potential and agency.

The Ripple Effect of Empowered Traders

When informal traders receive the right tools, training, and support, the results reach far beyond the bottom line. At Raising Hope Centre, we’ve witnessed firsthand how access to Business Development Services, when designed intentionally for women, can unlock a ripple effect of empowerment. The transformation is both personal and systemic.

Women who once struggled to break even now report greater confidence in decision-making, not just in business, but in their households. They’re forming stronger social networks, building peer-led savings groups, and supporting one another beyond market hours. There’s a renewed sense of dignity, a quiet but powerful shift in how they see themselves and how they are seen by their communities.

The stalls they manage are no longer symbols of survival. They are microenterprises, woven into the fabric of community development. Markets become more stable. Households gain resilience. Children stay in school longer. Families eat better. Hope returns.

This is The Mama Mboga Transformation, a journey where the informal economy meets formal opportunity, and where women reclaim their place as drivers of Kenya’s future.

By combining technical business skills with psychosocial support, Raising Hope Centre ensures that BDS is not just transactional, it is deeply transformational.

Our Commitment to Gender-Inclusive BDS

Our work in Kitengela reflects our long-standing commitment to gender-inclusive programming. Every aspect of our BDS strategy, from the curriculum to facilitation methods, is designed with the lived experiences of women in mind. We understand that time, mobility, and safety are real barriers, and we work around these to meet women where they are.

Going forward, Raising Hope Centre continues to invest in innovative ways to scale BDS delivery to women in informal markets, ensuring that no trader is left behind in the journey toward economic empowerment.

Raising Hope Centre remains committed to creating inclusive spaces where women and widows in the informal sector can thrive, not just survive. Through business development services that are practical, community-led, and values-driven, we are walking alongside Kenya’s most determined entrepreneurs, one market stall at a time.