My goal this year was to expand my business and buy another dairy cow. Achieving this means this means that I will earn more income and therefore I will be able to work on more family projects and open more businesses.

I appreciate the amount of transfers that we were given by GiveDirectly but I think in my opinion, it will be better if we receive the whole lump sum at once so that one can finish up with the project that they have planned. On the other hand what GiveDirectly does well is giving us unconditional cash transfers so that we can plan for ourselves.

For the longest time, I was buying one litre of milk daily for my family especially for my little daughter. Since a litre costs KES 75, this was so much for me because I do not make much profit operating a general shop. My desire was to buy a dairy cow so that I can get enough milk for my family and some for sell buy I was not financially in a position to buy a cow. With my second transfer, I spend KES 30000 to dairy cow, KES 12000 to buy chicken that I'm intending to start a poultry farming business with and the balance to add more stock to my business. I am grateful to GiveDirectly for helping me achieve two of my goals.

I am a mobile money agent, and that morning at around 7 am while still sleeping. That's when I received a call from one of my customers who had received their transfers and wanted to withdraw the money. After the call when I checked my phone and confirmed to have received KES 55,000 from GiveDirectly. I was very excited and withdrew the money two weeks later.

The biggest difference in my daily life since I received the transfers is the availability of capital for starting a poultry layers project. This is because they grow fast compared to dairy farming and once grown will be of high value. Additionally, through the transfers, I have bought a dairy cow. Hence relief from debt burdens. Thirdly, the transfers have turned around my mobile money business from working capital of KES 20,000 to KES 50,000. This has led to an increment of commission from KES 6,000 to KES 10,000. Lastly, from the withdrawals of transfers by GiveDirectly recipients within my locality, I got KES 15,000 commission which has helped increase my working capital from the normal KES 20,000 to now KES 50,000.

I have been a shopkeeper and a mobile money agent for the past 9 years and 5 years respectively. When I received my transfers I used all of them as additional working capital for my mobile money business. I used it for two weeks and received KES 4000 commission. After the withdrawal of the transfers, I spent KES 25,000 on a heifer that a neighbor had given to me to rear about five months ago when there was a drought. So on the arrival of GiveDirectly transfers, he saw the need to sell it and I bought it without hesitation. This will therefore be a source of milk once it reproduces hence cutting milk expenses. This is because I normally spent two liters of milk at KES 120 for the past 6 years. Secondly, I ventured into the rearing of poultry layers at KES 12,000 on 59 chicks sold at KES 205 per chick. This will be a source of income for household expenditures like food and milk. I also bought a wire mesh at KES 3,000 that now houses my 80 chicks. Thirdly, I used KES 7,000 on a cupboard. This is because I just completed a four-roomed timber-framed house and had left an open space for the cupboard. Fourthly, I also spent KES 3,000 on food 10 kilos of rice and 5 kilos of beans. This has helped reduced household expenditure costs. Lastly, I spent KES 2,000 on decent second-hand clothing for my family.