190 Catholic Sisters Graduate Ready to Build Sustainable Social Enterprises

Last week, from Tuesday to Friday, the Sisters Blended Value Project (SBVP) celebrated the online graduation of 190 Catholic Sisters who successfully completed the SBVP Alumni Masterclass. The graduates, comprising 73 participants from Kenya, 51 from Zambia, 40 from Tanzania, and 26 from Uganda, marked the culmination of six months of advanced learning, mentorship, and peer engagement to strengthen the sustainability of their social enterprises. As part of the programme, each congregation presented an Action Learning Project (ALP), demonstrating how they had applied, or planned to apply, the knowledge and skills acquired to address real challenges within their ministries and enterprises.

For the past four years, SBVP has empowered Catholic Sisters across the region to transform their social ministries into sustainable social enterprises through its Social Enterprise Start, Grow, and Advance programmes. The Alumni Masterclass was introduced to reconnect with graduates, assess the progress of their enterprises, identify emerging challenges, and provide continued support as they implement sustainable solutions within their congregations and communities.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, Dr Angela Ndunge, SBVP Principal Investigator, expressed her delight at the remarkable progress the Sisters have made since joining SBVP. She described the Alumni Masterclass as a demonstration of the project’s commitment to accompanying its graduates beyond initial training. She challenged the Sisters to think beyond the present and to continue asking questions such as “How will your congregation look 50 or even 100 years from now?” Dr Angela encouraged the Sisters to embrace innovation, strategic planning, and cross-congregation collaboration to ensure the long-term sustainability and impact of their ministries.

In her keynote address at the Kenyan cohort’s graduation, Sr. Bridgita Samba encouraged the Sisters to be inspired by the knowledge and experiences gained through SBVP. She called for sisters to deepen their commitment to their apostolates by building sustainable social enterprises that effectively respond to the needs of the communities they serve. She reminded the graduates that their vocation is grounded in the Church’s social teachings, which call them to uphold human dignity and serve society with compassion and purpose. She also encouraged the Sisters to remain resilient in an increasingly complex world, emphasising that graduation is not the end of learning but the beginning of a lifelong journey of innovation, service, and leadership. She urged them to build on the visions presented through their Action Learning Projects, learn from setbacks, seek guidance when necessary, and continue creating sustainable social enterprises that transform lives and communities across the region.

In her graduation remarks for the Zambia cohort, Sr. Juunza Mwangani of the Religious Sisters of the Holy Spirit in Zambia shared how the programme transformed her understanding of mission, shifting her focus from seeking external funding to creating sustainable value. Inspired by the training, she established the Emerging Farmers Initiative (EFI), which equips young people with entrepreneurial agricultural skills and promotes environmental stewardship as an integral part of sustainable social entrepreneurship. She urged the Sisters to draw on the knowledge and experiences gained through SBVP. As with her, the programme should deepen the Sisters’ commitment to their apostolates by building sustainable social enterprises that respond effectively to the needs of the communities they serve.

The graduation marks the start of the next phase of the Sisters’ social entrepreneurship journey. Following the programme, the graduates and their congregations have been paired with Social Enterprise Advisors (SEAs), who will provide mentorship, coaching, and technical support over the next year to ensure the Sisters’ enterprises achieve long-term sustainability. Through this continued accompaniment, SBVP aims to help the Sisters translate the knowledge gained during the Alumni Masterclass into lasting social and economic impact within their ministries and the communities they serve.

Articles by Alex Okoth