I am privileged to be a beneficiary of GiveDirectly’s transfer. It does so well in discouraging favouritism by ensuring that every household is enrolled in the program. Irrespective of the nature and the size of every household, the GD staff never bypass any but rather consider them having equal chances to be enrolled in its program. In addition, through the direct cash transfer, the benefiting community members have been relieved from their hardship. Lastly, the GD staff attend to recipients in a friendly manner without taking advantage of them. In my opinion GD just needs to improve its services by coming up with a regular pattern of sending us the transfers.

Before I got a teaching position in one of the nearby primary schools, I used to run a business of selling date fruits. More often during the holiday, I continue with business because out of it I am always able to get some additional income. Therefore, immediately I confirmed the receipt of my transfer, I considered investing KES 1500 to boost that business. I am glad that in the past 3 days, I have been able to generate an average net profit of KES 500 daily. Furthermore, because we did not have some food in the house at the time of receiving the transfer, I opted to spend KES 1,500 on buying 1 bale of 2kg maize flour. Certainly, the GiveDirectly transfer was so timely, and without it, I would have not succeeded in obtaining food at that time.

At the moment I learnt that my transfer had come, I felt that I was a lucky man. In my life I had never received such kind of support. At the enrollment stage, I still had doubts that possibly I might not qualify for the help. I therefore had no option but to strategize on how I would spend the transfer on boosting my business. I knew that this would be my only way to continue benefiting from GD transfers.

After struggling for so long on how I would revive my business, the transfer has played a key role in making my business register an improvement in its performance. Consequently, I have witnessed an increase in profit generation from KES 300 to KES 500 per day. This is a great opportunity that I had never longed would come to pass in my life. As a result, I have been able to provide food more comfortably for my family. Previously, it was so hard for me to support myself and the family.

For several years, I have been running a business selling ropes. Immediately I received my transfer, I used it to boost my business which was at its lowest point. Prior to the transfer, I was almost giving up because I did not have enough money for restocking. I am glad that now I have additional stock and this has translated into an increase in profit generated by the business. Currently, I am always able to make upto KES 500 per day unlike before, when I could hardly get KES 300 in a day.