Equipping Nyanam widows with business and financial skills through soap making training

Our livelihood and economic empower program seek to provide Nyanam widows with skills, tools and knowledge to start sustainable agriculture and business ventures that meet their basic needs, provide a surplus for their income, and facilitate their economic independence.

At Nyanam, widows' groups practice different economic activities from table banking, vegetable selling including soap making. Soap making is one of the economic activities among widows in 14 leadership circles under Nyanam’s program. The widows make a multipurpose liquid soap for washing utensils, hand washing and for sale. In July 2022, Nyanam International founder and director got an opportunity to visit Amevivina Care led by Mama Elizabeth Afi Hamenu in Ghana and learnt how to use coconut oil and shea butter for making multi-purpose laundry bar soap, hair pomade, herbal skin rashes soap, shea body cream. From this visit, she endeavoured to implement the same activity in Nyanam’s livelihood program.

In September 2023, supported by Women In The Window International and in partnership with Amevivina Care, we trained 22 Nyanam widows in soap making. The widows we trained in all purpose liquid soap, shower gel, solid soap and hand sanitizer. During the training, Nyanam widows learnt about the different soap making process including required ingredients for making specific soaps, hand sanitizer and body lotion.

This practical session took days after which Nyanam widows got the opportunity to make the different soaps through the guidance and support of Mama Elizabeth and Voiceline. They were able to make two different types on liquid soaps (shower gel and multipurpose liquid soap), three solid soaps of (turmeric, herbal and multipurpose soaps) and a liquid hand sanitizer made .

“I can now make shower gel for my family so that we can have smooth and tender skin as we have been taught how to also make herbal shower gel.” Betty, Nyanam widow leader. 

For us, this is a great opportunity to scale up on corporate business venture and encourage Nyanam widows to explore soap making as a group business venture.

Written by: Evelyn Odhiambo, Nyanam Youth and Communications Officer