Products & Services
Introduction
Our services are really solutions. We have as our goal to deliver more than our clients expect and as a result, provide sustained value addition.
Financial Education
Financial Education (FE):
Financial Education teaches the knowledge, skills and attitudes that people can use to adopt good money management practices for earning, spending, savings, borrowing and investing. Financial education is for both individuals in business and not in business. We empower people to make prudent money decisions. Over 17,000 clients have been trained to date. Many say they wish they had received this training before taking their first loan.“The budget topic was the most important for me because I was already saving but was not doing my budgets very well…as a young man, I can say that the youth really need this kind of knowledge so that they can start handling money in the right way” – Client – Mois Bridge.
FAS Energy Division (FASED)
It is estimated that there are approximately 1.4 billion low-income people that lack electricity in the developing world. They use kerosene lamps which provide little light, smell awful, are a cause of house fires and are damaging to the environment. The other option is cheap batteries which are short-lived, perform poorly and contaminate local water supply.
The majority of Kenya’s population currently lacks access to modern energy services, which severely limits the potential for economic and social development. At present, less than 15% of Kenya’s total population has access to electricity, and in rural areas less than 5% are connected to the grid. Lack of clean, affordable and efficient energy services in the rural areas also contributes to the ever growing rural-urban migration.
Establishment:
FASED was established as a division of FAS in last quarter of 2009 with the help of seed capital from ARC Finance. This was informed by a survey conducted among the Faulu Clients. The survey conducted using FKDTM clients in 2008 revealed that clients were spending on energy and this was not at any one time captured as part of their daily expense. Same to other Kenyans, Faulu clients also experience energy poverty.
Undertaking the energy portfolio will add value to the clients in three different areas stated below:• Savings in the cost of lighting: a rural household without electricity spends approximately KES 500- 700 per month on lighting (candles, kerosene, dry cells etc).this amounts to KES 6000 per year.
• Savings on cost for Phone charging: Without electricity, a household with 2 mobile phones, charging 3 times per week at a cost of KES 20 per charge spends about KES 500 per month (KES 20/charge x 3 times/week x 4 x 4 weeks x 2 phones = KES 480/month) This translates to high cost of KES 6000 per year. In other words it is possible to repay the lamp from savings on the cost of phone charging in one year
• Income generation: A client who chooses to use the lamp for charging other people's phone at a fee can make roughly KES 60 per day. If for example, the client charge 3 phones in a day at a fee of KES 20/phone, this amounts to KES 60/day or about KES 2000 / month. This is equivalent to a monthly wage in many agricultural rural areas.
FASED is becoming famous for our ability to offer energy solutions, providing hard hitting, and effective pragmatic experiences in energy for all our clients. We provide training courses for a wide range of clean and renewable energy. We train both individuals and units applying our knowledge and experience to support their stated needs/aims/objectives. FASED is committed to building knowledge capacity and developing best practices for improving energy efficiency through introduction of renewable energy resourses.
FASED is forging partnerships with manufacturers and distributors to provide high quality solar products with a wide range of solutions: Lantern, Torch, Task Light, and Flood/Security Light & mobile charging So Far… FASED through its pilot has been able to distribute in excess of 1600 lantern lamps and mobile chargers in three months.
Financing
Reaching to the BoP you need a partner with a wide national network with a proven track record personalized service and an Innovative approach to financing. FASED has found this in Faulu Kenya Deposit Taking Micro-Finance who has forward¬ looking management and through its leadership is experiencing Exponential growth. This partnership has been able to offer both savings products and credit facilities that have worked well with our customers.Training
Business Management Training:
We provide business management training for clients across the board, from the very small to medium enterprise owner managers. We have training that focus on women and youth as well. Our trainings are both generic and tailor-made to meet the unique business management needs of our clients. Over 4000 clients have participated in this training program so far. A vast majority of those trained have reported increased sales for their businesses as a result of the skills and knowledge gained during our training.“Since I attended the business management training, I have worked hard to ensure that retain as many of my customers as possible. My business has grown and I have expanded to various locations. I always refer to may business management notes every not and then. It is a very important training. I wish more people could attend.” – Client, Nairobi
Food Processing
Through our collaboration with technical experts, we are able to make available agro-related technical skills that include Post-Harvest Food Processing, Mushroom growing, and production of Consumer Product (detergents, soaps, and cosmetic and beauty products).
This intervention enables small producers improve their productivity and therefore profits or opens opportunities for new product service lines, therefore enhancing competitiveness, business survival and employment creation.
“Thank you very much for teaching me how to make yoghurt, juices and baking. Since the training, I have since bought a baking machine because there is no bakery in my area.” - Client, Kapsabet.
Business Advisory (Entrepreneur's level)
This provides a basis for appropriate interventions depending on business needs. Through our qualified professionals, we are able to provide advisory services in areas such as:Hesabu Bora (Accounting and Record Keeping)
- Introduction to Record keeping.
- Books of Accounts and their use
- Use of Accounting Software
Financial Management and Decision Making
- Importance of financial management
- Interpretation of Financial Statements
- Introduction to Financial Management tools
- Interpreting ratios for decision making
CENTRE FOR BUSINESS EXCELLENCE
Management Consultancy:
One of the primary objectives of FAS is to provide high quality management consulting services to the micro finance industry and investors in the small enterprises sector. The programs we have developed and delivered include financial management, delinquency management and microfinance operations. Upon request we conduct exposure visits to institutions in Kenya that are relevant to Micro Enterprise Sector. To effectively meet the needs of our institutional clients and partners, FAS has a pool of carefully selected Associates who complement our internal capacities as need arises. These Associates have extensive working experience with both local and international organizations on multi-disciplinary areas. Some of the areas of expertise include:Operational Design for Institutions
- Development of Training Manuals
- Operational Manuals
- Procedure Manuals
- System Manuals
Product Development and Implementation
- Market Research and Baseline Survey
- Product Development and Design
- Product Launches
- Product Marketing
- Project Planning
- Participatory Impact Monitoring and Evaluation
Institutional Assessments
- Audits (Financial and non Financial).
- Inspections (Quality control, Compliance, Error detection, systems improvement)
- Assessment(Staff Evaluation, Peer Review, Business Performance)
- Key Performance Indicators (Indicator Monitoring, Indicator Establishment, KPI assessment).
Market Research/Survey
- Customer satisfaction Survey
- Market Opportunities
- Market Profile
- Market Size
- Market Share
- Market Segmentation
Performance Management
- Performance Drivers
- Employee Behavior and how to influence it
- Performance Measurement Tools
Human Resource Management
- Human Resource strategy formulation
- Key aspects of Human Resource management
- Keeping your Staff Motivated
- Hiring , firing and recruiting key Personnel
- Dealing with difficult staff