The project

Christine and Kevin, wife and husband, are passionate about agriculture and its potential to grow the Kenyan economy sustainably. After gaining experience in the agriculture sector, they decided to start Chriven in 2009. 

With a modest start of exporting 2 tonnes of French beans per week to a buyer in Holland and one full-time employee, Chriven has blossomed in every way possible: employing more than 300 staff (with more than 80% as women), adding another buyer in the UK, expanding into 7 different vegetables and fruits, and increasing turnover from less than 1 million USD a year to more than 3.5 million USD a year. 

Chriven also supports SCREAM (Save the Children Reconciliation Education and Assistant Ministry) Africa Children's Home with their first donation of a crate of French beans in 2013. To date, Chriven has donated more than 800 crates of fresh vegetables and continues to donate 6 crates each week to more than 150 abandoned and orphaned children. 

Chriven is pursuing its own path to self-sustainability. In 2016 alone, Christine and Kevin are now producing on a leased farm of 72 hectares, packing the produce in their own packing house complete with a cold storage room, and transporting the packaged produce in their own cold-storage truck. Although Chriven is only producing on less than half of the 72 hectares, they have a grand vision to become fully self-reliant by producing everything on this farm, introducing mechanization to increase production, and expanding into other countries in Europe and Africa. 

Chriven Enterprises seeks additional support to follow on the capacity built over the last 6 months. Specifically, diversification of product chains that they work in will ensure productivity through the year at the business. This productivity will secure the employment of the newly acquired staff and those projected to come on board in the next few months. Chriven is employing more women than before with the use of these funds.