KFF Entrepreneur Challenge

The KFF Entrepreneur Challenge is designed with the purpose of supporting self-employment and entrepreneurship among disadvantaged youth, especially women and girls with disabilities, by providing micro-entrepreneurship development services. We will achieve this by improving their entrepreneurship and management skills and by providing them with business support, networking opportunities, alongside the financial award to launch or expand their income-generating activities.

Between 9% to 16% of people in Bangladesh have disabilities. The access to economic opportunities for people with disabilities is really very scarce in Bangladesh due to the lack of practical experiences and vocational skills. The Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, as a member of Economical and Social Council for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) expressed her commitment to the goal of ‘equality of people with disabilities’.  and adopted the Disability Welfare Act 2001 that addresses, among others, protection of rights of people with disabilities, equal opportunities for participation in education, training, employment opportunities etc. However, the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladeshthe hasn’t yet taken practical actions to make rights a reality for disabled people in everyday life. the Disabled People Organizations (DPOs) lack sufficient capacity to participate in advocacy and decision-making process regarding implementation of CRPD at local levels, and there is no effective advocacy for inclusion of persons with disabilities in government programs such as education, health or justice-and in government budget planning and implementation at national level.

KFF will support 5,000 women/girls who are known to be very poor and twice victimized as women and also disabled, and who face a range of barriers (such as the presence of stairs and absence of a ramp/elevator, communication barriers, negative perceptions of people with disabilities) when it comes to business ownership.

Beneficiary selection will be based on a three-stage process. The first stage will be a pre-screening consisting of trust-building and training activities over a one-week period to identify highly motivated candidates. In the second stage, candidates who demonstrate strong interest during the pre-screening period will then be eligible for the entrepreneurial mentorship program. Finally, a subset of beneficiaries will be selected to receive post-creation support based on the potential viability of their new or existing self-employment project. 

Currently, KFF works alongside the program partners to complete a base-line assessment on knowledge about entrepreneurship and existing labor market, socio-demographic characteristics, and current participation and engagement in professional activities. The results of this assessment will help us design a specific-strategic plan and will also help us to assess the social impact of the intervention.

The eight-selected organizations will receive a capacity building and strategic support alongside the award to run a 3-months-non-residential and in-person entrepreneurship training that will improve the entrepreneurial and management skills young people with disabilities to launch or expand their business. The course will focus on how young people can create jobs for themselves and others through entrepreneurship. It seeks to increase the participant ‘s understanding of the creative process and how such a process can help improve creative problem-solving skills. It will provide youths with the necessary skills to initiate businesses, make healthy and productive life choices and reinforce professional skills in the workplace. It will also help them to sustain and grow their businesses.

KFF Fellows or alumni will be awarded with grant or loan to cover a business launch-related expenses or to buy an assistive device that can help a person with a disability to get around or perform business-related task.  

KFF will work with Simbuka Technological Innovation Ltd to provide disabled-entrepreneurs with an online marketplace and platform to receive tax-deductible gifts or sollicitating contributions from donors based in the USA, and the opportunity to fundraise on the international plaforms.

KFF has applied for an Free Wheelchair Mission (FWM) partnership to receive wheelchairs. Additional information has been requested and sent during the process of preparing this proposal. Donation from FWM will improve mobility for girls and women with disabilities from low-income communities and help increase their participation in KFF’s proposed activitie.

The KFF Program advisor will support the KFF Entrepreneur Challenge partners in the design and implementation of the program and will contribute to creating an informal alumni network who eventually will become employers and/or mentors to their former peers. Moreover, many alumni came back to the organization after succeeding, to check how they can be of any help to their former peers. KFF will organize annual events to connect program graduates with business experts, donors, and entrepreneurs, and shall be running a platform to meet peers, experienced auto-entrepreneurs, potential employers, moderators, and business experts.

The project will adopt a locally based approach that involves bringing together local civil society organisations (DPOs, NGOs and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), local private sector and local government officials, with the relevant public-sector institutions. In doing so, the project will foster local public–private–NGO partnerships to provide an integrated support model at the local level tailored to young people, thereby addressing the multiple barriers young people with disabilities face to starting and expanding their income-generating activities. This will position KFF not as a competitor to other NGOs or initiatives but rather establish a lasting partnership to sustain and extend the program, and solve the problem of the lack of consultation and involvement of people with disabilities in the desing and implementation of development programs which is a barrier to their inclusion in society.

Similar solutions to this problem exist. However, people with disabilities face a range of barriers to access them. KFF will focus the intervention not only by providing entrepreneurship or digital solutions(same solutions), but also helping them to overcome the barriers that preventing from accessing these service. Finally, we provide them with assistive devices and we combine our training with sign language to increase program inclusivity.

The KFF Entrepreneur Challenge is an innovation that seek to fill the gap between disability as impairment and economic and social inclusion by addressing the key challenge that people with disabilities face to achieve the economic self-sufficiency and equipping those people with disabilities with tools and information they need to successfully start and manage their income-generating activities. For example, KFF will work with Free Wheelchair Mission (FWM) to receive free wheelchairs and give them to those in need, and free working space with internet access for those who wants connect or get advice for business experts, or who want to improve their digital literacy.

KFF is planning to expand the KFF Entrepreneur Challenge to Bangladesh. In one year, we will be serving 5000 women and girls with disabilities, and aiming to impact over 25,000 members of Bangladesh disability community. 

In five years, we will be serving directly over 25,000 men and women with disabilities, and impact over 100,000 families in Bangladesh.

Our goal within the next year is to reach 5,000 women and girls with disabilities directly, and impact over 25,000 members of Bangladesh disability community (including parents and children of women with disabilities and their dependents). In five years, we look forward to impacting over 25,000 men and women with disabilities and their families, and other marginalized groups in Bangladesh.

1) The KFF Fellows and alumni will need access to the internet, which is not widely available, to use KFF marketplace and launch their fundraising campaign on the international platform;

2) The program graduates will need financial support to start or expand their income-generating activities unless they raise fund on the international platforms or receive financial aid from KFF and its partners.

1) Through KFF Entrepreneur Challenge program partners, KFF will offer free co-working space with the internet access, mentoring and networking opportunities to girls and women with disabilities and others in the disability community who want help growing their businesses, and train them on how to use the Microsoft programs and basics of computer to improve their digital skills;

2) KFF will help program graduates obtain required documents for loan application and connect them with Micro-finance institutions and banks, identify potential donors with particular focus on disability or economic empowerment in Bangladesh to partner with, and facilitate program graduates fundraise on the international platforms.

The Government of Bangladesh is doing all they can to encourage foreign investors and has announced many programs aimed at promoting foreign investment.  However, none of these efforts have been successful.  The volume of investment remains low compared to other countries.  

By involving the government agencies in all the project phases, KFF will highlight the contribution in the economy and poverty alleviation by contributing to the workplace development and promoting self-employment and entrepreneurship for this category of marginalized groups. This will position KFF as one of government's potential partners. 

Full-time staff: 7

Part-time: 5

Volunteers: 15

Contractors: 1

KFF’s team leader by John K. Ntonta an Echoing Green Fellow, a disabled advocate and social entrepreneur believes in a new way of thinking and undertaking tasks thus exhibiting his passion by starting the entity. Also, a team of fellow disabled people join in and contribute time, effort and energy to support their fellows in the same state, which is very unusual, uncommon and rare. These facts make KFF a different entity and position them strategically as the entity that’ll help save the disabled people from poverty and also link them to various platforms where they can access the needed resources.

John Kadiwaku Ntonta is coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He’s the Founder of Kadiwaku Family Foundation, and, currently, He’s working as President and CEO.

John serves as Senior Advisor in the Education Cluster (hosted by UNICEF/DRC) providing technical and strategic support on projects focusing on disability and human rights; as well as coordinating the task force on ‘’Protection mainstreaming’’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

For the past ten years, John has worked in the field of philanthropy, serving as a consultant to many local organizations and foundations.

In June 2018, John won an award from Echoing Green to implement a program which aims at improving the entrepreneurial capabilities of 650 person with disabilities in Democratic Republic of Congo.

1) Finca DRC:

The Kadiwaku Family Foundation works alongside FINCA, a leader in microfinancing, to educate disabled entrepreneurs on how to manage and save money. For the past 16 years, FINCA has provided financial products to low-income communities to support self-employment. This includes loans, saving plans, insurance, money transfer. 

2) Simbuka Technological Innovation Ltd (www.simbuka.africa)

Simbuka is a social enterprise that positions environmental technologies and solutions for private sector investment, scale and impact. By building relationships between applied research teams, non-government and government programs, Simbuka connects global partners to ensure innovative technologies become part of the region’s wider socio-economic framework and succeed beyond initial deployment.

KFF and Simbuka will work towards providing an inclusive learning platform that promotes women empowerment through technological innovation and entrepreneurship and a marketplace.

• Free Wheelchair Mission (FWM)

Kadiwaku Family Foundation has applied for an FWM partnership to receive wheelchairs. Additional information has been requested and sent during the process of preparing this proposal. Donation from FWM will improve mobility for girls and women with disabilities from low-income communities and help increase their participation in KFF’s proposed activities.

Echoing Green

KFF receives a strategic and capacity building alongside the financial support as part of our fellowship. 

Our business model is nonprofit. We will provide opportunities for self-employment and entrepreneurship through entrepreneurship workshops, capacity building activities, networking and business support. 

1)      Membership fees: All participating members from the communities are requested to pay a subscription fee that maintains their engagement with KFF and also caters for unascertained costs where their subscriptions will be used to better any other of the provinces or community;

2)      Commission on sales: We connect the disabled-entrepreneurs with buyers/corporations and we take a commission of 15% on every product or service ordered through our online platform;

3)      Diversifying donors: Continuously engaging and signing long term funding opportunities that provide a substantial period for implementation, activity and focus on making impact than searching for funds that derails the existing projects if not planned which triggered the team to write this grant document;

4)      Building an inventory of resources: The gadgets that will be bought in the digital training activity are re-useable for other trainings and provide leverage for future projects. Thus, KFF will handle any resource in a project with care because it becomes an asset whose functions are replicable;

5)      Volunteer engagement; Volunteers will cut the salary cost of KFF and this enables project to continue despite of the funds being spent on the main activities and not expenses.

We look forward to working with Tiger IT Foundation in order to receive the financial support we need to expand our operation in Bangladesh. 

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We would like to partner with these organizations:

- Simbuka: development and management of online learning platform and marktplace;

- Free Wheelchair Mission: To provide free wheelchair to women and girls with disabilities who need them;

- Disabled People Organizations: to host the entrepreneurship workshops