Christmas for us is about being grateful

                        (a sample of the bracelet we gifted our donors at The Pollination Project)

Christmas for us is a time to be thankful. Thankful for everything that has happened to us, the good and bad because even the bible says in everything give thanks.

Here goes our gratitude list:

1. Jesus. Thank you for looking out for Mdada even when we don't know it.
2. The rejection by a couple of outlets to retail our merchandise.
3. The space we got to sell our bracelets at Yaya.
4. The new girls we helped earn money. Nicole, one of our girls made Ksh 9650/- after we trained her!BOOM #winning #power. Our student here warms our heart with her testimonial.
5. Our new and returning customers. We 💗 our customers.
6. The markets we participated in. The flops like NFM and the successes like The Hub's Christmas Fair.
7. Our new cool office space.
8. Our partnerships with major companies (not saying the names because I want to surprise our fans, big things coming in 2017)
9. The support of The Pollination Project. We were delighted to give gifts to the people who believed in us when we started.
10. The rejection for support from accelerators we've been a part of.
11. Our friends and family who've been a beacon of strength. (special s/o to my sisters Aina & Mainda, bro AK4Saba and my friends Willie and Linda who are part of the Mdada team.)
12. The jam by Nyashinski 'Mungu Pekee'. It literally sums up our attitude this entire year. Please listen to it here

What are you grateful for this Christmas?

Have a merry one.

Bless,

Lila

Mdada Founder

Mdada Entrepreneurship Training: Impact Video

Hello there,

This will be one of my favorite posts because, you get to hear and see one of Mdada's students share her experience.

This is HUGE for us. Looking forward to training more students. Simply sign up here.

This training is open to both boys and girls between the ages of 12 and 24 by simply signing up here

Bless!
Lila

15 years ago, this is what I'd rather have been doing

Now, 15 years ago I was in high school maybe in form 2 or 3. Honestly, I wasn't big on school. Wasn't a bad student either. I think my dreams were so big and I couldn't quite link them to my current circumstances like how was my school work going to get me to New York fashion week in like a month or the next year. Why was I broke and how could I make a difference in someone's life in an exciting way that made me feel alive. Not cliche like things like going to volunteer in a children's home or clean up the environment somewhere nasty. I needed something that incorporated most of my interests like fashion, music, social justice, making money, travel etc all together. 

                                                Throw Back 10-15 years ago

I created this (Mdada) 13 years later.I hope someone out there in their teens will create a dope life in their teens because of us and because it's possible. It's the 21st century, anything is possible. Javelin record holder Julius Yego learnt his skill from watching videos on YouTube! I think it's about time we had more young people doing cool things like setting up businesses that express their interests, solving community problems and achieving amazing things, living a life so dope it's exciting and fulfilling. Lemme just say that young people have one asset called TIME that could totally make their lives rock especially if we're talking about money and compound interest! These are the gems I wish I knew about when I was in high school, maybe I could have sacrificed those buns and invested in my dreams /o\. It's all good though.  I'm excited about helping young people achieve amazing things and change the world. I'm living vicariously through them ;p

Join the Mdada boss class today- Call 0706276622/31or 0717832311

Email: lila@mdadaforgirls.com  

Love & Light
Lxxx

Corporate gifts should be personal and special

Corporate gifts are gifts given by a company to another party to show appreciation for the relationship that exists between them. For example, companies give gifts to their employees to show appreciation for their services to the company. They also commonly give gifts to clients especially those that have brought a lot of revenue into the company. Gifts can also be given to suppliers, shareholders and charities. Some common gifts given include calendars, branded caps, umbrellas, kikoys, notebooks, pens, mugs, clocks etc.

Most times, corporate gifts are given to the company’s clients. It’s important because they ensure that you stay in your clients’ mind and thus solidify your business relationship. They also show your clients that you think about them and if you choose the right gift, you show them that you know them well. All gifts should be personal whether they are given to friends or colleagues. Companies need to do the same because business is about establishing relationships and the same rules that apply in our day to day inter personal relationships should transcend into the business sector .As a business person what personal information do you know about your client. For example do you know your clients’ children? Why not then give a gift for the children. After all these are potentially your future clients. Add a handwritten note from the C.E.O. Your clients want to feel like they know you, that they have access. Give it to them. Nothing is personal like a bracelet with a child’s name and a handwritten note from the C.E.O. 

Mdada, a social enterprise that teaches practical entrepreneurship to young girls and enables them to earn as they learn brands bracelets for companies, organizations and individuals. The bracelets are handmade by young entrepreneurs giving them an opportunity to make money for their school fees or other projects. A company that partners with Mdada also satisfies their corporate social responsibility while at the same time gifting its partners. It’s that simple and amazing.

For more details on how to order the bracelets, simply contact lila@mdadaforgirls.com

Have a productive week ahead!

Lila

Founder

Mdada

+254717832311

No to sponsors yes to boss babes

So many times I talk about the likes of Beyonce, Wangari Maathai, Michelle Obama, Oprah who inspire me so much in the way they speak, work and what they've done for women and the world at large through their gifts, talents and status in society. Today I want to talk about the inspiration that comes from within my business. It's about the girls/young women I work with to help them achieve their dreams whatever it could be either to get back to school, stay in school, pay for your upkeep etc. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to push people into doing something instead I prefer to inspire them to take action because really what one does is for their own good and development. 

This month I have been inspired by how my girls have taken initiative to get the Mdada kit, make bracelets which now are already selling at the Inside the Baobab shop at Yaya Centre. What they earn basically goes into their education and infact when you go to the shop and look at their bracelets which have a word that inspires them sewn onto them, you will see a short handwritten note from the girl on the tag. I thought this was a great idea for customers to connect with the girls and support their dreams by buying their bracelets. So anyway back to how inspired I am by these ladies.  They're willing to take a step towards making money for their school fees. Some of them have been out here looking for people to sponsor their education and instead they've met with opportunists looking to use their bodies for sexual favors in exchange for school fees. I tell my girls they don't need to get "sponsors". You have a brain and can work to earn money and my work is to show you how. This market is large enough for all of us women to thrive financially. I just can't wait to see what happens with my girls. I'm so proud of them and my prayer is that we pay those bills faster than we expected and reach our dreams.

Do you feel touched to pay their school fees or buy their merchandise? Please visit Inside the Baobab shop at Yaya centre and look out for Mdada bracelets or contact me Lila -0717832311

Blessings,
xx

Making progress

Just completed another  entrepreneur's class. 4 young, talented Kenyan ladies had the great opportunity to be a part of this. We had FUN! Isn't it amazing that we can learn and have fun simultaneously especially when we find inspiration frrom people we admire like Beyonce? I think she's a great example of a female entrepreneur. She's super hardworking,  humble and beautiful. I like the way she creates music that is empowering to women, music that makes you feel that you can be, do, have anything you want in life. Her single 'Run the World'  is just one of the many that I appreciate. It's always fun to learn from such and this is a key part in our class.

The next part is even better. Everyone needs to dream about what their life could be. It's even better when your doing it together with others. The energy is amazing! I ask each student  to have a list of: 

• 30 things they want to do
• 30 things they want to have
• 30 things they want to be

Side note: For some students their list doesn't  make it to 30 things in some aspects and it's fine.

Personally, I got excited when I was doing my list for example when I think about standing in a stadium with 10,000 plus women who I have helped achieve their dreams or that feeling of meeting Oprah and Beyonce because I already got to see (not meet) Michelle Obama last year ;) and that made my year. I think about travelling to New York for something related to my work or to concerts of my fave artists or fashion week or to work with top fashion designers like Victoria Beckham or wear a Roberto Cavalli dress. Even as I type this right now i'm getting more and more excited. Funny thing is I had written down in my journal and also twitted about meeting Michelle Obama last year and somehow I got to see her speak at a conference I attended. I have not met her but one of these fine days God willing we will have lunch together ;) I am so inspired by her, I absolutely love everything about her especially the fact that we share the same interest in empowering girls with her Let Girls Learn initiative which helps reduce the barriers that keep girls from going and staying in school.

The next part of the class we talk about current news that is relevant to entrepreneurship. In this class it was about the 'Photoshop queen' Seve Gats who made international news by photo shopping herself at China's great wall, with Barrack Obama's family, in Dubai among other places. She made news because her photos clearly looked photo shopped and also because she actually got sponsored by Kenyan businessman Sam Gichuru to travel to China all expenses paid! Amazing huh? We took a lesson from this whole situation. This girl was bold enough in putting her dreams out there in social media and somehow she achieved what she desired. This girl wanted to go to these places soo bad she put her image in all of them. For me the lesson is you need to put your dreams out there, they shouldn't just be in your mind and it may not necessarily be on social media, it could be in your journal by simply writing down a list of what you want or even going further to find images that represent what you want. It's important.

We then got creative and I showed the students how to make something that has and is still making me money and that is branded bracelets a.k.a name bracelets. One of my students actually made Ksh 9,650/- in less than 3 weeks after receiving a Mdada kit. The kit contains everything needed to make branded/name bracelets. It's not just about making money but also about learning how to create a product from start to finish and then selling it. The approach taken here can be applied in the student's entrepreneurship endeavors in whatever field they aspire to work in. I have great students, look at what they created

 Last but not least, we checked out Wangari Maathai's Humming bird story which is another inspiring video that shows us that you should never look down on yourself or your talents and that it doesn't matter what people say that you can or cannot do. You only need to do your part which is the best you can do. In life a little goes a long way. Haba na haba hujaza kibaba (swahili proverb meaning a little goes a long way). It's a great feeling to see someone achieve their dream because of your support and guidance. This is all I want to do and I look forward to training more students. I have limited spots available for my next class in August. Each student get's personal coaching from me and therefore I can only have a few students in my class every quarter. Next quarter being Aug -Nov.If this is something you feel will benefit your child, you can book a spot by contacting Mdada on 0717832311 or email lila@mdadaforgirls.com. 

Targeted age group 12-26.

Stay on your Grind!

Lila

Girls in Kenya Learning and Earning

Today is one of the best days in my LIFE! Yes, my LIFE. This is because I can see the impact of my work right in front of my eyes and I feel like the future is so bright for the young women and girls who will take up the Mdada training. Actually, I think boys too will benefit (well obviously they're benefiting because empowering girls affects everyone in the community but what I mean here is that boys too will be able to access the training). Mdada online course is coming soon!

Back to why this has been one of the best days in my life. I was at this social gathering in my neighbourhood and I was just socializing with other people around and then I noticed one of my students taking orders for the bracelets I taught her to make. This is part of the entrepreneurship training that I do which involves actually making money. Nicole is her name and she is only 11 years old but she was going hard as an entrepreneur to the point where she was making the bracelets where the light was dim. I couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't see this coming especially from her. This soft spoken girl was busy taking orders and making bracelets as I watched. PROUD is an understatement to explain how I felt. I'm on top of the world, exhilarated and humbled at the same time. In fact I was so proud to introduce her as my student and an up and coming entrepreneur but she corrected me and said that she is an entrepreneur already! I don't know what to say. My eyes are tearing up ring right now. 

This is what Mdada is about. We're helping young women and girls (inadvertently boys too) reach their dreams whether it's to pay school fees, raise capital for an idea, go on vacation, get a laptop...whatever it is, it's absolutely possible if you want it soo bad you can't think of anything else. Nicole is earning money to pay for her school trip. She's making personalized bracelets for Ksh 500. I'm so excited for her and can't wait to see her win!

I'm working hard to make this training available online so it can be accessed by more people. Watch this space. Remember, for every 5 bracelets you buy from Mdada's Jumia shop you are helping one girl get access to this training for free. A girl who needs it and can't afford to buy her own mdada entrepreneurship kit.

(Mdada kit contains 10 bracelets, letter beads, thread, needle, snipping tool, lighter and packaging)

Wherever you are today, just stay on your grind. It pays off in due time.

Sending you love and light,

Lila

The making of a young designer entrepreneur

Hey y'all,

Last month (April) was interesting. I decided to start my personal entrepreneurship training  so I simply looked for teenage girls in my court where I live and approached their parents. I got their permission to teach them entrepreneurship based on my experience. I'm so excited about this girl whose dream is to become a designer. My job is currently to help her raise money to make her very first creation. I LOVE my job. I can't wait to share the progress we make :)

Bless!

L

Our new space: Yaya Centre

We are super excited feeling totally honoured and blessed to have a space to sell our merchandise at Yaya Centre, 2nd floor Inside the Baobab. Woooooot! This is the Big League baby! It's a great location, lots of middle class/ upper class Kenyans and expats shop here so our sales have increased and that means so has our impact. For every 4 bracelets we sell, we are able to impact 1 girl. Amazing things are happening to us. We will be meeting the president of Kenya H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta soon ( i believe ;) Watch this space. BOOM!

Love and light,

Lila

Founder

TBT Bizarre Bazaar Crafts Festival June 2015

When I look back at all the places we have had a stand to sell our merchandise, Bizarre Bazaar in Karura Forest stands out as the best place. We had a shared booth last year in June and it was a great experience (obviously sales wise). I don't know about other times of the year but this year I will be looking out for BizBaz for the June/July period.

Blessings,
LK

Congratulations Faith Wanja! KCPE Results

Hey good people,

I just wanted to congratulate my girl Faith Wanja for passing her KCPE exams. I am so proud of her. She's a smart girl and we helped contribute to the payment of her school fees last year. It feels good to see that she did well. She scored 304/500 and we're so proud.

Her dream is to become a doctor. Well, y'all look out for Dr. Wanja in future ;)

Happy New Year, wishing you all the success possible.

Bless,

L

Mdada and Michelle Obama in Doha, Qatar

Hey guys,

This was the best thing that happened to us last year, seriously! To be in the same room with an icon and girls' education champion Mrs Michelle Obama was EPIC!! This was at the World Innovation Summit in Education in Doha, Qatar in Nov, 2015.

It was so awesome, just listening to her. We were so inspired.These words spoken be her summed up our year-

"Don't worry about those who don't believe in you, you just have to work harder to prove them wrong" 

YES and YES and YES. 

This shot was taken from way back in the auditorium. Unbelievable. I tweeted that i would meet her just a few months before and this was close to that. My dreams are coming true y'all.

Other than this it was a great experience, I met some wonderful people from Japan, Singapore, China, Israel, US, Pakistan, Jordan etc. It was GREAT. Qatar is rich y'all. It's actually the richest country in the world.

This happened during my birthday and it was the best gift I could ever receive. Stayed at a 5 star hotel, had great food, met amazing people and made great connections. Graca Machel was there too. She speaks so passionately about education, you will be converted if you're not a believer!!!

Congratulations to Dr. Sakeena Yacoobi for winning the WISE Prize 2015. She's doing an amazing job educating women in Afghanistan. She's definitely one I look up to.

I'm still not over all this and it happened in November 2015 :)

Bless,
L

PS: I was sort of a celeb there because of my hair!!!  haha I had these twisted braids in maroon, blonde and black. Some guy from Bahrain even had to get a pic:) Will share the photo if anyone asks for it. (i'm too shy)The compliments i got were awesome. I'm soo soo happy about this.

Are we international now? :)

We just sold our merchandise to the ICANN organization at their most recent ICANN54 Fellows programme in Ireland!!!

It feels so good to actually get people miles away on a different continent and country that I have never even been to get connected to us and our cause. Wow, what can i say. This is what we're about. Bringing hundreds and thousands from all over the world to make a difference in a girl's life by simply wearing our merchandise.

Thank you ICANN :)

Yassssssss :)

We're on Jumia baby!

This means a lot you guys. Our products, currently bracelets, are listed on Jumia!!! Yey!!

Jumia is a major platform plus, it saves us so much time trying to deliver products by ourselves. Now, if you like our merchandise or just want to support our girls you can go to our Mdada shop on Jumia and purchase a bracelet which will be delivered to you.

In future, I want the girls in my entrepreneurship class to list their merchandise on this platform so that  they can learn and make real money today which will pay their own school fees. This is genius right? No? Haha feel free to critique us in our comments...

Hey, we're also on Etsy for all the diaspora and international folk out here. Search for the shop mdadaforgirls.


God bless,
L

To purchase/support the cause go to Mdada shop

Why are people unappreciative even when you're helping them?

Hello earthlings,

It's been a while since i posted something here and the truth is, I don't like writing plus i'm just lazy but i think it's important. This is like the only documentation I do about my project and I was just taking this free online course on ALISON-Diploma in Project Management and I just got to the part where i'm learning the importance of documentation. Anyway, i also have a lot to say. I go through a lot running Mdada sometimes it's just too much really.

Today lemme just talk about something I experienced with one of the parents of the girls whose school fees I have been trying to help pay. Let's get things right, I am not taking over from the parents, i am just trying to do my best where I can. For anyone whose ever started a business, you know how tough it can be. Imagine trying to get a business going and help someone pay school fees. Basically i'm trying to get as much profit as I can and then share the profits with the girl. This is my passion and I believe I can help people get out of poverty and education is one way of solving this. Back to how tough it can be get a business going. Making profits in the beginning is not easy. You need to invest so much time and resources to your business before you can get clients because when you're trying to do something new you'll probably be learning as you go, making mistakes and learning. 

It reached a point where i needed the support of the parents because I needed staff. The only difference is I would be paying you in form of school fees going direct to your daughters account. I did intend to cater for transport expenses but that was it. Anyway, long story short. When I brought this idea up with the parents, it wasn't flying. Okay so I wanted to understand how we can make things move forward in the interest of the girls. I couldn't even get them to come and help me out once in a week! Crazy! 

When I went to the school to just check how much the students owed in terms of school fees, the principal was like what's going on because he is aware i'm trying to help pay school fees for the girls. He suggested that I ask the parents to help me but I was like they're not interested. How do you help someone in this situation? I came to an agreement with the parents that i would match whatever they contributed as in if they could pay 1000 bob i would pay a 1000. What do you think?

Sometimes, i'm just crawling like the Martin Luther says

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, and if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

Oh well, I guess all things happen for a reason because I have since changed my approach. Now I'm looking to train girls on how to actually make an income for themselves. I landed on a bestseller item that is easy to make and can be sold by students. I think this is in fact easier to scale my business because the girls will be learning a new skill and paying at least part of her school fees if not all of it. The products will be listed on Jumia, check out our Mdada shop online and support :)

Gosh, I need someone to give me some kind of motivation to write.There's so much into this story that I haven't shared but you know me...urgghhh i'd rather talk about it than write about it.

Later earthlings.

L