evidoria

← Back to browse

Good practice Imported

InBusiness — Disability-Inclusive Microenterprise Support in Meru County, Kenya

Kenya · Meru · See the Kenya profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 54% 67/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

A three-NGO consortium trains and mentors microentrepreneurs with disabilities, backed by an in-kind growth-kit and procurement links. 2,467 reached (84% disabled), self-reported income +35%; an LSHTM/KEMRI randomised trial is testing the causal effect.

2,467
Microentrepreneurs and caregivers reached (2019-2025)
84%
Participants who are people with disabilities (2019-2025)
849
Participants completing the business-skills track (2019-2025)
+35%
Average increase in participant income (self-reported) (as of July 2026)
42%
Trained microentrepreneurs pursuing supply opportunities (as of July 2026)
18%
Trained microentrepreneurs who won a contract (as of July 2026)
InBusiness — Disability-Inclusive Microenterprise Support in Meru County, Kenya

Details

Maturity
Scaling
Promoter
Light for the World, with Humanity & Inclusion and Sense International
Period
Phase 1 2019–2021; scale-up 2022–2025; independent RCT (LSHTM/KEMRI) baseline 2023, endline scheduled 2025
Keywords
disability inclusion, microenterprise development, business training, inclusive procurement

Context

Microentrepreneurs with disabilities in Kenyan counties including Meru face compounded barriers to running viable businesses, from limited access to tailored equipment to exclusion from buyer-side procurement processes.

Objectives

InBusiness, led by Light for the World with Humanity & Inclusion and Sense International, aims to build the business skills, assets and market access of microentrepreneurs with disabilities and their caregivers through a ten-month bundled support model.

Activities

The model combines classroom business-skills training, one-to-one mentorship, an in-kind business growth kit of tailored equipment, disability-inclusion training for the public and private institutions the entrepreneurs sell to, and direct links into procurement opportunities.

Results

Across its 2019-2025 phases, InBusiness reached 2,467 microentrepreneurs and caregivers, 84% of them people with disabilities, of whom 849 completed the intensive business-skills track; participants recorded an average 35% increase in income, 42% went on to pursue supply opportunities with private or public institutions and 18% won a contract.

Conclusions

These are the implementer's own July 2026 monitoring figures rather than an independently verified causal estimate; a cluster-randomised controlled trial run by LSHTM and KEMRI, with baseline data collected in March 2023, is testing the model's causal effect on household consumption and economic empowerment against a waitlist control group, with its endline results still unpublished as of this review.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Grant-funded by the UK FCDO's PENDA programme; per-participant costs cover classroom training, mentorship and an in-kind equipment kit, not capital infrastructure.
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years) — Ten-month participant track within a programme that has run continuously from 2019 (Phase 1) through a 2022-2025 scale-up phase.
Staffing & skills
Three-NGO delivery consortium (Light for the World, Humanity & Inclusion, Sense International), business-skills trainers and one-to-one mentors, disability-inclusion trainers working with buyer institutions, LSHTM/KEMRI academic evaluation team for the parallel RCT

Conditions for success

  • Bundling classroom training with an in-kind growth-kit and mentorship rather than training alone
  • Working directly with public and private buyer institutions on disability-inclusion so procurement doors actually open
  • Multi-year FCDO grant funding sustained through the 2022-2025 scale-up phase

Common failure modes

  • The published 35% income-growth figure is self-reported before/after monitoring data, not yet confirmed by the parallel RCT's causal estimate
  • No funding commitment beyond 2025 is confirmed, creating continuity risk once the current grant period ends

Where it fits

Governance type
NGO-led consortium with donor (FCDO) grant funding
Scale
multi-county in Kenya, including Meru
Income level
low-income country context

Commonly funded by

Philanthropic / foundation funding

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

Do you run this practice? Claim it — verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

Similar practices you may find useful