Kenya Financial Empowerment Group (KFEG)
Building a business is hard enough. Building one without anyone to call when things get tough is even harder.
The Kenya Financial Empowerment Group exists to close that gap for alums who are ready to build, pairing them with mentors who bring real financial and business expertise, and who stick around long enough for it to matter.
KFEG grew out of a partnership between Nichols College faculty, students, and alums of a Kenyan children's home, and it addresses one of the core pillars of Partners in Resilience: helping alums build lasting economic independence through financial literacy, mentorship, and hands-on business support.
How the Partnership Began
For 22 years, Erin Banda worked alongside a children's home in Kenya. Somewhere along the way, she noticed a gap: alums navigating adulthood needed mentors who could help them build real financial and business skills; not a one-time workshop, but someone in their corner over time.
She brought the idea to Nichols College professors Karin Curran and Julio Elias. What started as a conversation became something bigger: a student-driven service learning initiative connecting Nichols College students with alums in Africa.
Our Mission
KFEG pairs Nichols College students with alums for mentorship, financial literacy, and business development; because building independence takes more than good advice. It takes someone who shows up.
What We Do
KFEG members work directly with alums, not as consultants dropping in with a recommendation, but as partners who stay close enough to help when it counts. That looks like:
- Financial literacy education
- Entrepreneurship coaching
- Small business planning and redesign
- Budgeting and financial statement development
- Business proposal review and feedback
- One-on-one mentorship and accountability partnerships
- Cross-cultural workshops and virtual collaboration
- Ongoing support for alums building their own businesses
The ventures they've supported span agriculture and produce markets, catering, beauty salons, photography, furniture manufacturing, retail grain and cereal shops, car washes, coffee and bakery operations, and motorcycle transportation services. KFEG is also supporting Zetu, an alum-launched, rider-owned delivery cooperative that's putting alums to work.
Student Learning, Global Impact
For Nichols College students, KFEG isn't a case study, it's the real thing. They apply what they're learning in finance, business, leadership, and communication to real ventures with real stakes, and they learn what it actually takes to build a mentoring relationship across cultures and continents.
For alums, that means a mentor who's invested in their business, their financial footing, and their next step, not just for a semester, but for as long as it takes.
Looking Ahead
KFEG started with only a few students in 2024, but has grown enough that Nichols College is launching a dedicated course built around it, starting Fall 2026. More students, more mentorship, more ventures backed, and more ways for the partnership to keep growing.
Together, Partners In Resilience, Nichols College, and this community of alums are building something durable: real skills, real businesses, and a network of people who don't quit on each other.
Learn more about Nichols College here.
