Nairobi — President William Ruto has urged Kenyan women to take advantage of the government's affirmative action initiatives to empower themselves economically.
The President pointed out that some government programmes such as the Hustler Fund closely mirror women table banking initiatives across the country.
"I want to tell women who have money in table banking that you can also borrow from Hustler Fund because it charges low interest and has flexible repayment periods," he said.
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He made the remarks when he attended the 16th anniversary celebrations of Joyful Women Organisation (JoyWo),whose patron is First Lady Mama Rachel Ruto.
Present were Mama Rachel, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, Zimbabwe Minister for Tourism and Hospitality Industry Barbara Rwodzi, and Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja.
Others were Kenya Commercial MD Annastacia Kimtai and Principal Secretaries, among others.
President Ruto disclosed JoyWo's business model inspired the creation of the Hustler Fund, which he implemented when he came to office in 2022.
As an MP, the President explained, he had tried to start women empowerment programmes but all failed until Mama Rachel started Joyful Women Organisation in 2009.
"I proudly stand here to say what started small somewhere in Kamagut, Eldoret, is today a national movement in 44 counties and 250,000 members," he said.
Mama Rachel pointed out that since inception, JoyWo has facilitated the creation of more than 300,000 businesses, touching over three million lives.
Additionally, she said more than KSh4 billion has been borrowed through table banking in 44 counties, 50,000 tanks distributed to households, and 50 million trees planted, 70 per cent of them fruit trees.
"These are not statistics. These are footsteps, footsteps of change, footsteps of courage, footsteps of women refusing to remain unseen," she said.
The First Lady went on: "This is why JoyWo is not a project. It is a mindset. It is a movement. It is a sisterhood of courage and possibility. And we have seen this in one story after another. Every Joyful woman has a success story."
She said the organisation is going digital in the next phase of growth in order to reach more needy women.
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