Nineteen-year-old Alice is an award-winning entrepreneur who has turned a traditional Kenyan craft into a lifeline to support her family – and to enable other girls in her community to forge a livelihood.

While still a school student, Alice, 19, launched her own business, making and selling beautiful beaded products, from belts to bangles. Our Enterprise Challenge programme equipped Alice with the skills to launch and grow her business, and she has drawn on the digital marketing skills she learned to reach customers far beyond her community.

After Alice’s father was tragically killed, Alice’s business became her family’s sole source of income, enabling her siblings to stay in school despite the loss of a parent and breadwinner. Now an employer as well as an entrepreneur, Alice trains other girls in beadmaking during the school holidays, so that they too have the means to earn an income in a rural area with few formal job opportunities.

In June 2025, Alice won the prestigious Amal Clooney Women’s Empowerment Award in recognition of her achievements. The award was presented to her at the 2025 King’s Trust Awards at London’s Southbank Centre by Amal Clooney and Charlotte Tilbury, who serves as an Ambassador for our Enterprise programme.

‘I believe when a young person – especially a girl – is empowered, the whole community is enlightened,’ Alice explains.

Enabling rural entrepreneurship

Alice lives in a small village in Turkana County. A dry and remote region in northern Kenya, Turkana is the poorest area of the country, and formal jobs are in short supply. Hunger and malnutrition are widespread, and are particularly acute during periods of drought. Crops don’t grow well in this arid environment, so many people here are pastoralists (livestock herders), while others depend on small businesses like shops and market stalls.

In a context where most young people will need to work for themselves, our Enterprise Challenge programme, delivered in schools through the Asante Africa Foundation, aims to inspire and upskill the next generation of entrepreneurs, ensuring that they have the real-world skills and knowledge they will need to succeed. Enterprise Challenge equipped Alice with the skills to launch and grow her business, helping her understand how to build her brand, focus on high-demand products and maximise her profits.

Online orders

In Turkana, the remote location and limited transport options make it difficult for vendors to reach customers and grow their businesses. Women’s mobility is particularly restricted, with traditional childcare and domestic responsibilities making it hard for them to travel beyond their community. But Alice has found a way to reach customers much further afield.

Drawing on the digital marketing skills she learned during Enterprise Challenge, Alice began advertising her products on social media, and established partnerships with parcel service providers to deliver orders efficiently to her online customers, many of whom are based in other regions of the country.

Trainer and employer

Combining valued traditions and new technologies, Alice’s entrepreneurial reach is impressive, especially at such a young age, and she has been able to steadily grow her business. Alice has now hired an employee to manage the business while she herself attends school, and has also involved her sisters in the business, transforming it into a family venture.

At the same time, Alice runs beadmaking classes for other young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, mainly girls, generously sharing her skills and knowledge to empower others.

‘When the girl is able to earn income, she will provide for her family, educate her siblings to be better people in future, resulting in a self-reliant generation and a better community for all,’ Alice explains. ‘That is the goal I hope to achieve by being that change.’