Eggppreneur Newsletter September 2015

EGGPRENEUR NEWSLETTER
U P D A T E September 2 0 1 5
Welcome Home Chickie!
Eggpreneur on the Move!
In December 2014, the entrepreneurial micro-egg production initiative known as
Women Eggpreneur was launched by founder Matthew Dickson. After several
months of hard work and dedication, Eggpreneur has now become a reality for
many women and their families in rural Kenya. Through Eggpreneur, Kenyan
women are realizing their full potential to develop sustainable household incomes
and business skills, while moving towards an end to their cycle of poverty.
Day Old Chick
“Through the use of
micro-­‐egg enterprise,
providing business
opportunities for women
leaders is the way to rural
economic sustainability” -­‐
Founder Matt Dickson
Matt Dickson at
“The Brooding House”
Activities Updates
After Matt’s visit in Canada and USA, he
returned to Kenya motivated and
inspired to move the project forward to
achieve this year’s scheduled milestones.
The months of July and August brought
bookings of day old chicks, preparations
for brooding houses and placement of
chicks to their respective Eggpreneur.
An order for 2000 day-old chicks was
placed in July to be collected on Sept 7th
from the leading Kenyan hatchery -
Kenchic Hatchery Ltd. The chicken
breed is ISA Brown, a brand breed from
Hendrix Genetics in Holland.
Preparation and construction of a
Brooding House began on site to prepare
for the arrival of our first born chicks.
Accommodations had to be made for the
intermittent power outages which
frequently occur in rural areas of Kenya.
It was decided to build a small brooding
room with iron sheet-metal to keep the
room warm during the day and insulated
at night. We purchased some charcoal
briskets to supplement heat at night,
maintaining the temperature at 30ºC.
Our next project is to install solar energy
panels for lighting and heating since it is
more sustainable and cost effective in the
long run.
Welcoming our “New Born”
The long anticipated arrival of our first
born has come. All the chicks were
healthy and strong.
Thus far, with an impressive mortality
rate at 0.7%, we are managing well. For
us, nurturing 2000 chicks is like having
multiple sets of twins in the house,
especially when the project lacks
automated feeding and heating
equipment.

Women Eggpreneur Update
Page 2
Sensitization meeting with
women in rural homes
What about me??
This was one of the many questions we faced during our last community
sensitization meeting of the project. There has been a lot of drive and momentum
from members of the community of Machakos to increase the enrollment of women
Eggpreneur from 20 to 100, to allow more women to prosper from the project.
Currently, Eggpreneur project is unable to increase the number for this year’s
enrollment, since we are limited by our current schedule and budget. However, this
observation indicates that people are hungry- hungry for employment and financial
independence. A life of poverty is pushing people to act. Once word spreads in
Machakos of a sustainable project, particularly for women, every community member
wants to jump on board. We are optimistic that this project will increase in
enrollment in the new year and allow more women to benefit from the goals of the
project.
Arrival of chicks
From the Hatchery
Matt in the Brooding rings
Our Next Steps
In the coming months we aim to brood
our birds for 18 weeks until they are
pullets (ready-to-lay hens).We hope to
distribute pullets to Women
Eggpreneurs by December. We look
forward to bringing your our next
quarterly newsletter in December where
we will proudly announce the 2015
targets that have been achieved and our
plans to improve targets that have yet to
be met. To do this, we will continue our
fundraising campaign with current
donors and hope to recruit new
Eggpreneur donors. With your help, we
will be able to reach our objectives with
respect to project finance, resources and
functionality.
We are grateful, to all friends of
Eggpreneur, for your spiritual and
financial support. You have made this
project become a reality for women in
Kenya and we can’t thank you enough.
Read more about our success published
on the McMaster University Global
Health website at:
www.eggpreneur.com
or
http://fhs.mcmaster.ca/globalhealthoffic
e/mcmaster_gh_grad_matt_dickson_ma
king_a_difference.html
To support this noble initiative, you can
donate by:
1. Mail: Cheques can be payable
to: Lakeside HOPE House, 75
Norfolk Street, Guelph,
Ontario, N1H 2W6 (Memo:
“The Eggpreneur Project” )
2. Online through Canada Helps
at:
https://www.canadahelps.org/en
/charities/lakeside-hope-house
(Select “The Eggpreneur
Project” from the drop down menu)
A charitable tax receipt will be issued for
donations over $25. Lakeside Hope
House will forward your donations
directly to The Eggpreneur Project in
Kenya.
I hope you will join me
and be-come part of our
success story!
With love from Kenya,
Matt Dickson
Email: matt@eggpreneur.com
www.eggpreneur.com