BOMA is a proudly African NGO headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya and works to build sustainable livelihoods for rural individuals and households living in extreme poverty across Africa’s drylands, along with advancing six United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

Our Model

Rural Entrepreneur Access Project (REAP)

BOMA’s REAP model is designed to address the specific challenges facing those living in extreme poverty across Africa’s drylands. We have already reached +1M individuals, helped tens of thousands escape extreme poverty, sent more girls to school, and improved household nutrition. Proven to be cost-effective and have long-lasting results, our holistic, multidimensional programs have now expanded to seven countries across Africa. Participants enroll for 12–24 months, gain business, financial, and life skills, launch businesses, and form savings groups, all with the support of a dedicated mentor. Our models are designed with six foundational components and are adapted to meet the specific challenges of the diverse communities where we work:

Community-led development is central to BOMA. We identify new participants through community consultation, ranking with BOMA’s targeting tool, and baseline surveys by trained enumerators.

Each business receives a seed grant to launch, followed by a performance-based progress grant transfer after six months. Since 2021, all transfers are via mobile money.

Mentors provide training and coaching in finance-covering profit, pricing, record-keeping, savings, and planning-and life skills like decision-making, educating children, family planning, and resource management.

A BOMA Mentor assembles groups of three qualified participants, helps launch their businesses, and provides monthly support, essential to participant success.

After six months, Mentors form savings associations of 3-5 business groups, meeting monthly for deposits and withdrawals. They provide ongoing micro-trainings for several months, helping participants save for emergencies (shocks) like drought or disease.

Through savings groups, participants are registered to access formal financial institutions. They may also receive assistance in opening bank accounts and business mentorship from various institutions/companies. Each participant is provided with a mobile phone and connected to M-PESA for money transfers.

Where We Work

BOMA works across the drylands of seven countries in Africa. The communities where we work sit at the epicenter of multiple crises, including climate devastation, youth unemployment, conflict and displacement, and scare economic resources. These communities are located in some of the most fragile and volatile ecosystems in the world, but through economic empowerment and resilience building, millions of lives are being transformed.