SEA conducts MYSA onsite consulting & Kenya-wide Workshop
The first Social Enterprise Assist (SEA) onsite consulting project for an established social enterprise and sport for good organization partnered Kick4Life from Lesotho with MYSA Kenya.
There are many similarities between the social enterprise development journeys of Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) and Kick4Life. Both MYSA and Kick4Life have been operating hospitality and sport-related social enterprise activities for several years on the same premises as their programming, which brings unique challenges and opportunities. And, in this case, both organizations are operating on the African continent, pioneering integrated social enterprise and sport for development operations in contexts and legal frameworks not yet developed to meet their unique needs – sitting in between the spaces created for charities and those created for for-profit businesses.
On the basis of these commonalities, the trip was framed for SEA, lead by Kick4Life, to come in and support MYSA’s social enterprise developments through sharing learnings and by facilitating the development of more regional network support. Of course, the shared learnings were mutual. The intervention was supported by Common Goal and the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.
Across 4 days, a series of meetings, tours and workshops were held at MYSA’s headquarters in Nairobi aimed to assess the current alignment of MYSA’s staffing and operations towards a shared goal of increased financial sustainability. Workshops were held on value proposition design and brand development to ensure a customer-focused approach to creating and selling value was guiding operations.
The week capped off with a Kenya-wide Network workshop hosted by MYSA and involving 10 other Sport for social change organizations across Nairobi and surrounding areas. Since most participating organizations had ventured into some form of income generating activities already, the workshop facilitated problem solving sessions to help tackle the biggest obstacles facing the group that are currently limiting optimal social enterprise developments. The solutions created by these leaders were context specific and could then be used as a jumping off point for future partnerships and collaboration in the network to support in social enterprise development.
The attending organisations were:
MYSA -hosts
Kick4Life – SEA facilitators
Alive & Kicking
Angaza Kenya
VAP
Futbol Mas
Africa Yoga Project
Boxgirls
SEP
TYSA
Moving the Goalposts