Julia Koikai grew up as a member of the nomadic Maasai people of East Africa, for whom cattle symbolize wealth with cows and milk forming the center of the local economy. Traditionally, the men receive cows as a dowry and these cows belong to the husbands as heads of household. The women are allowed the milk, as wives must feed their household. This is the custom among the Maasai, even today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at the Switch Africa Green<\/a> conference, Julia told the audience that she enrolled in a training program, where she learned how to make probiotic yoghurt. Deciding to go into business, she knew that as a woman, it would be better if she was not alone. So she first got the support of her husband, and with his permission she approached a friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beginning with an initial investment of 2,000 Kenyan Shillings (equivalent to $20), they made their first five liters of yoghurt. Selling the product on market days in Narok, they received a positive consumer response, encouraging them to expand production capacity to 50 liters per market day. The women chose to start a milk \u2018chama\u2019 – a group of like-minded women investing in each other\u2019s businesses through a rotational savings fund.<\/strong> Each woman would contribute milk towards the production of yoghurt, and each would get a share of the proceeds in her personal M-Pesa<\/a> (mobile phone-based money transfer service; payments and micro-financing service) account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n