Likoko is a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam in the department of Human Geography, Planning and International Development and part of the Governance and Inclusive Development research group at the same university. After a Bachelor’s degree in Social work and at the University of Nairobi, she completed an MSc in Sustainable Development at the Uppsala University in Sweden with a research on Ecological Waste Management (Ecological Management of Human Excreta in an Urban Slum: A Case Study of Mukuru in Kenya). She is now part of a research team studying “Women Food Entrepreneurs in Kenya and Burkina Faso. Building inclusive business models for food security in the city slums of Kisumu and Ouagadougou” as a comparative study of two cities. Using mixed methods n her research, she focuses on Kisumu city where she examines the conditions necessary for women survival entrepreneurs to  transition to growth entrepreneurship using the inclusive business framework; with a specific interest in the urban informal settlements, agribusiness and gender dynamics.

Project description

Aim: The project WFE aims to strengthen women’s food entrepreneurship in city slums in Kenya & Burkina Faso, by building inclusive business models for food security. based on an integrated understanding of the complex interactions between soil quality, food production and quality and nutrition for vulnerable groups.

Objective: Boosting women’s production, processing and trading of quality foods in Africa’s growing cities can improve food and nutrition security of vulnerable populations. This inter- and trans-disciplinary project examines opportunities and constraints, field-tests innovative food production and processing methods, and designs inclusive business models for women food entrepreneurs.

Method: The project has a transdisciplinary team of social and natural scientists, Dutch, Kenyan and Burkinabé entrepreneurs, government and civil society actors, and community-based women groups. Through a comparative analysis between Kisumu and Ouagadougou, this project address the constraints faced by women as: (i) food producers in (peri-)urban gardens; (ii) food processors; and (iii) food marketeers, within diversified physical, environmental, social and policy contexts. The project (a) co-designs and field-tests hybrid food production and processing technologies; and (b) enhance and promote women’s business knowledge and skills through inclusive business models.