Elizabeth Takes Her Grocery Global

Elizabeth Nyiransekerwa Jeanne is a 29-year-old refugee from Congo who runs a small grocery store in Kasarani, a neighborhood in the outskirts of Nairobi. In March 2020, she decided to add a new stream of income to her business: exporting salted, high-quality sardines to the US.

In partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, Elizabeth successfully applied for a loan from one of RefuSHE’s Women’s Ambassador Groups (WAGs) and used the capital to expand her export business. She sources the sardines from Tanzania with the help of her husband who trades fabric and phone accessories at Namanga, a Tanzanian-Kenyan border town.

She started small, buying 2-7kgs of sardines to sell locally every month. When a friend who was resettled in the US informed her that there was a market for African sardines among the immigrant community there, Elizabeth jumped at the chance to meet this demand. She mailed her friend 5kg of sardines to sell for her. Within a month, her friend had sent back the earnings.

“The demand was very high, but I could not afford to send more than 5Kgs since it was very expensive, and I didn’t have the cash,” Elizabeth shared.

The loan from RefuSHE’s Women’s Ambassador Group helped Elizabeth buy more stock and afford the increased shipping fees. Today, she can mail over 20kgs of sardines for her friend to sell. This allows her to not only make a small profit but also invest her earnings into her growing grocery business.

RefuSHE’s collaboration with the Mastercard Foundation has helped Elizabeth diversify her income stream and earn steady wages to help her family. Elizabeth’s husband actively supports her participation as a member of RefuSHE’s WAGs program and helps ensure she attends group meetings. Elizbeth is a proud member of her community and a savvy entrepreneur. She feels hopeful about the future and looks forward to continuing to grow her business.

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