Every time we liberate a woman, we liberate a man.  ~Margaret Mead

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I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Women produce more than half the world’s agricultural production. Yet it is a much smaller proportion that actually has ownership and control of the land where they work. Ownership gives a much greater motivation for productivity and management, for the women and their families.

The In the Land of Women Project (ITLOW) will work towards women’s economic development by increasing their land access and ownership. Kenya will be the focus, where around 70% of the agricultural labor is female, yet only 1% have property ownership. In Kenya, land ownership is a worthy achievement, as many livelihoods depend on it. So the motivation for women to work hectare community land blocks is high. ILOTW will promote knowledge and technology gains to increase productivity of tea leaf and coffee crops. Global linkages will be established for trade through Export Management Companies (EMCs). The ultimate goal for ITLOW will be to have these women as registered land owners under Kenyan law. What used to be non-productive, community owned land, will be under the control of knowledgeable and skilled women.

II BUSINESS OVERVIEWAround the globe, women are the major source for agricultural production. For centuries, women have supported their families and communities with their diligent

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Felipe Bustos Luna p538 Colombia

Chris Finn p288 United States

Michaela Fountain p285 United States

Carolina Giraldo Borja p269 Colombia

Shayan Hosseini p537 Iran

Mahboubeh Javdan p535 Iran

Mengzhen Lei s383 Sweden

Frances Skilton s404 New Zealand

work in farming and crop production. However, it is often men, namely husbands and sons, who control the money, family property, and land rights. As a result, women retain only a small percentage of registered land titles.

Some countries, such as Uganda, are increasing gender equality in land ownership by revising laws, such as the modification of The Land Act of 1998. Also, Tanzania has improved their system of registering land to women, through the passage of The Land Act of 1999. Nonetheless, in Kenya, marriage and inheritance still determine a woman’s property rights. This system of spousal control can still fall short, as the land can be sold from underneath women without consent.

The ITLOW Project, based in Kenya, will help increase women’s land access and ownership. We will exist as an intermediary between those that control large portions of Trust Land, and women. Our organization will lease land from community representatives and increase its utilization through the management of skilled, local female employees. With access to global agricultural knowledge, such as the New Zealand firm, Agritech (http://www.agritech.org.nz/),

and the local Kenya Investment Authority, this land will be more productive.

This process will offer women in Kenya access to knowledge, methods and technology for irrigation, cropping, and land management. Gains will also be made in linkages with Export Management Companies (EMCs); EMCs have global networks that can benefit the local community and the Kenyan economy as a whole. To aid solid property ownership, the ITLOW Project will, in the long term, help employed women become the titleholder for a section of the Trust Land.

III LOCATIONThe ITLOW Project will initially be based in the Rift Valley province of Kenya. Kenya has a fully liberalized economy with a pro-investment government. It is also a part of the Commonwealth, which increases access from New Zealand and elsewhere, for capital and knowledge. These links also help the EMC infrastructure to increase ITLOW’s financial feasibility.

Rift Valley has a high proportion of Trust Land, around 65% (Figure 8.4), offering sufficient access to

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potential land. There are also significant regions of land suited to the export crops of tea leaves and coffee beans within Rift Valley, which makes it promising to trade with EMCs. Lastly, the province capital, Nakuru, has infrastructure to support an office base from which to grow our organization.

IV THE ITLOW PROJECT’S OBJECTIVES

Short Term:

Increase women’s abilities to produce for their families in Rift Valley.

Increase land productivity of Rift Valley farms by applying local and global knowledge.

Long Term:

Have significant areas of Trust Land registered to women; currently women’s land ownership is less than 5%, which we would like to increase to 15% in about 5 years.

Develop connections and a cultural acceptance that enables policy changes at a government level.

V BUSINESS & MARKETING STRATEGIES

Business Strategies

Our company vision at ITLOW is to utilize land that is being unexploited in Rift Valley, to the benefit of women within that community. Our business strategy is to rent Trust Land in a specific community, and therefore manage it. Since Trust Land is owned and operated by a community, we can’t purchase the land, but rather rent it through a negotiation between our organization and a person or council within that community.

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In the short term, our organization will provide jobs to currently unemployed and employed women within a specific community in Rift Valley. Women will be employed to grow coffee beans and tea leaves within our land to provide a profit for both the employees and our company. ITLOW will provide them with necessary training, so they can perform efficiently and productively throughout our land. We will also partner with an Export Management Company to ensure risk-free and profitable exporting. This entire process will not only benefit the employed women and our organization, but also the local economy.

In the long-term, our company plans to increase land access and potential land ownership for the employed women. Our organization will work towards greater land ownership for women, helping them register this Trust Land in their names. Currently, a woman in Kenya can only sign the registration if a man’s name

accompanies hers. Our company will act as a male cosigner to allow the women to acquire a permanent ownership title for the land.

The resources required within this venture include an office, which will be located within Nakuru; tools, and the advanced technology we can provide to assist with farming on land, including tractors and chaser bins; and, our human capital, which would consist of women from a particular community.

Challenges we foresee within this venture include: protection of our land, laborers, and our product from potential government or guerilla raids; acquisition of land and continued occupancy of the land; problems resulting from the cultural outlook on women within Trust Land communities; and, upholding our relationship with a reliable EMC as our partner in this joint venture.

Marketing Strategies

Our organization will market to unemployed and employed women in Trust Land communities, including, but not limited to, women who have farming experience, single mothers, widows, abused women, and younger women. We will also market to potential Export Management Companies, who will be selling our product to a foreign market.

Our strategy is to recruit a group of women from a particular community of interest, and begin the process of employing, training, and assisting these women in the overall acquisition of land.

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Once our efforts begin, women in other communities will see the advantages to this process and want to join our cause.

Our organization does have a competitive advantage over businesses already employing women in disadvantaged regions because we offer reasonable wages and the ability to acquire land in the long-term. Our wages for the women we employ will be up to three times their current earnings, and we foresee it taking less than two years for women to be able to acquire land.

VI Financial OverviewOur operations will begin on a small scale, as it will require relatively less initial capital investment at the beginning. After accumulated experiences, we will expand our service region and scale gradually. The previous success of our services itself will become a good advertisement and will also support our application for future financing.

Sources of Capital

In the first period of business, about 16,000 KES, or $US260 will be needed to establish ITLOW as an enterprise with an office and employees. We believe potential support will be obtained from ProInvest, a worldwide technical aid contributor, the Kenyan Land Trust, and the United Nations Development Programme; gender equality is included in the Millennium Development Goals the UN is currently targeting. Also, the Kenyan government will be sought for assistance, as it is working towards Vision 2030, which has significant agricultural productive aims, such as registering land to specific people.

Earnings

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Client Income (per person/per year)

income after selling $4,860.00

rent of land -$1,000.00

agriculture expenses and tax -$800.00

service fee -$100.00

net income $2,960.00

In Rift Valley province, the financial return from one hectare land with full productivity will be $4,680 US dollars per year; one person should be able to complete the farming work for one hectare land annually.1 Also, the rent for one hectare land will be $1,000 US dollars annually. Thus, we estimated that for each of our clients, the gross profit from selling cash crops, after reducing the cost of land, will be approximately $3,600 US dollars every year. Taking other expenses into account, such as chemical fertilizer, irrigating water, farm chemicals, etc., our clients will benefit from over $3,000 US dollars annually after harvest. Based on this calculation, we will charge an annual service fee of $100 US dollars per person each year. All our services for clients are included within this charge.

Yearly Expenses

We will operate within an 80 square meter office in Nakuru; the rent of the office will cost $35 per square meter, per year, with a 15% service tax included.2 12 employers will be hired to work for us with an average wage level at 6000 KES per month for each person.3 The administration cost will be 5000 KES monthly, including an electricity fee, advertisement cost, the expenses of low-value consumption goods, etc. Using the exchange rate of $1 US dollar equal to 77 Kenyan shillings, our annual fixed cost will be $14,800 US dollars, as shown in the table.

Break-even Point Analysis

If we serve over 148 clients per year, the income will be sufficient enough to sustain our project till the following year. In regards to the projected number of potential customers, the break-even point is easy to achieve. The extra net profit generated at the end of each year will be re-invested to expand our service scale the following year, in order to benefit more women who need access to land.

Fundraising

1 Organic Farming in Kenya: a growing demand for consistent supply, http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/gem/OrganicFarminginKenya-GrowingDemandforConsistentSupply.pdf2 Property of Kenya, http:// www.propertykenya.com3 Salary survey in Kenya, http://www.payscale.com/research/KE/Country=Kenya/Salary

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Annual Income Statement (Kenyan Shilling /KES)

Revenue KES in US Dollar

Service charge 7700*148 $100*148

Total 1,139,600 $14,800.00

Cost KES in US Dollar

Office Rent 215,600

Salaries 864,000

Administration Cost 60,000

　 1,139,600 $14,800.00

(Exchange rate at 1 US dollar =77 KES)

We will expose our case to the Kenya Land Alliance4, or any of its donors, in search of money, capital, or knowledge to implement our idea and serve women within Kenya. We believe potential support could also be obtained from ProInvest, a worldwide technical aid contributor, and the United Nations Development Programme. Gender equality is included in the Millennium Development Goals that the UN are currently targeting. The World Bank already has around $US1.4billion invested in Kenyan projects, notably infrastructure. ITLOW could be a part of their agricultural focus which currently has $US360million of investment. The Kenyan government will also be a valuable link as it is working towards Vision 2030, which has significant agricultural productive aims and they are also registering land to specific people. Both of which are ITLOW functions that we may assist with. We hope to collect enough funds to avoid the assistance of loans, and avoid acquiring debt. The money collected will be used for start-up expenses5, which in total account for almost 16000 KES.

4 http://www.kenyalandalliance.or.ke/members/index.php?flag=members&dmp=15 http://www.doingbusiness.org/exploretopics/startingbusiness/Details.aspx?economyid=101

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