After six months, Bihil Business Group received a second grant of $100 to grow their kiosk enterprise. Eysarboy remained enrolled in BOMA’s program for two years before graduating in 2020. Though she had scraped by with menial work before enrolling in BOMA’s program, Eysarboy was now earning a reliable income and had learned to save for unforeseen circumstances like drought or inflation.

In their independent evaluation of the group that Eysarboy graduated with, Feed the Future found that these participants experienced a 324% increase in business assets, a 32% increase in household income, and a 509% increase in savings, on average. Interestingly, the enumerators also found that BOMA participants experienced an increased desire for economic advancement. In other words, after being empowered to lift themselves out of extreme poverty, participants like Eysarboy could begin to embrace bigger and more ambitious hopes for the future.

The village of North Horr, a little more than 100 kilometers from Marsabit, has been deeply impacted by drought in recent years and the COVID-19 pandemic only compounded that difficulty. Thankfully, Eysarboy — alongside her fellow BOMA graduates — has earned a newfound sense of resilience and empowerment. After leaving BOMA’s program, Eysarboy remained committed to her own personal development. She enrolled in local adult education program, eventually graduating with certificates from three levels of Rendille literacy courses. Today, Eysarboy use her functional and financial literacy skills to keep diligent records for her business, and to share what she’s learned with her family and community.