Social Enterprise

From the very outset of this project, our Kenyan colleagues have expressed a desire to own their project and in due course to fund it entirely themselves. Unfortunately with salaries as low as £5000 p.a. for a newly qualified advocate and with a limited number of private practice lawyers (many go into government) there is a limit to the amount a small local organisation can raise from its members. Hence social (or micro) enterprise.

This is now a mainstream concept in development. Growing sustainable revenue projects through small businesses within the community served by the project is also a way of further serving the individuals rescued from injustice by creating gainful employment for at least some.

It is about going beyond charity. It is about human dignity. It is about ending the dependency culture prevalent in African states where every project must have a good “bid” writer, able to secure aid. That is not what our African colleagues desire in the long term. They want to develop self sufficiency and, as one senior Kenyan colleague put it, “say thank you and goodbye to the LCF’s support” releasing the UK to support other projects elsewhere.      

How does this operate?

We have begun the social enterprise project in Mombasa with a photocopying business that also provides free copies of charge sheets to remand prisoners (who must otherwise pay if they are to know with what they are charged!), a motorised rickshaw business and a property for rent. A business manager has been employed to develop further opportunities locally. Where possible, those rescued, by definition the poorest in society, will be employed in the businesses.

The UK funds raised specifically for social enterprise provide the capital for the business start up, but they are then expected to become self-sustaining and produce a net profit which is fed directly to the CLEAR project, thus retaining charitable tax relief.