In the vast, dry rangelands of NorthernEastern Kenya, specifically Marsabit and Wajir, life revolves around livestock farming as a source of livelihood. But as climate change intensifies, droughts become more frequent and severe, turning a way of life into a cycle of risk. For the pastoralist communities in the area, relying solely on grazing animals makes them acutely vulnerable to climate shocks.
The solution isn’t to abandon livestock, but to build a safety net, an alternative income stream that survives the dry seasons. This is the systemic change being driven by Horn Afrik Communications and Trading Limited (HACTL).
Unlocking the Desert’s Treasure: Gums and Resins
HACTL operates in the commercial forestry sector, focusing on the aggregation, processing and export of natural products like gums and resins (such as Myrrh, Frankincense and Gum arabic trees). These resources, often overlooked, represent a powerful source of income resilience for pastoralist families.
Horn Afrik’s model is straightforward but transformative: it connects these remote communities directly to international markets. KCV investment funds provided the essential working capital and asset financing, enabling operational scalability within the value chain.
The Human Impact: Value at the Source
For the suppliers, this model translates directly into economic protection:
- Higher Income: HACTL typically pays a premium over the local baseline price, significantly increasing the total value a supplier receives for their supply.
- Zero Transport Costs: Unlike traditional aggregators who often require pastoralists to bring their product to distant towns, HACTL consistently sends its own team and truck (financed by KCV funds) to collect the gums at the sites. This removes a major logistical and financial burden on the supplier.
By creating and sustaining income via gums and resins, HACTL directly supports the community’s ability to diversify their income and better withstand losses in the livestock sub-sector.
The social mission and impact model are profoundly effective, demonstrating significant social return on investment in marginalised areas. In the last reporting period, HACTL created and sustained 14 direct jobs, with a strong focus on inclusion: approximately 57% of those jobs were for youth and 29% were for women. Furthermore, the enterprise is fostering economic resilience by engaging 40 aggregators, directly benefiting 14 households as suppliers of essential raw materials, thus injecting vital alternative income into the ASAL communities.
The KCV Commitment: Revolutionizing Climate Investing
This case underscores KCV’s strategic commitment to revolutionizing climate investing by backing enterprises that serve marginalised communities and hard to reach rural areas to deliver both financial and Systemic Change. KCV’s focus remains on maintaining robust ESG standards and maximizing impact. Our investment demonstrates our mandate to build a truly low-carbon, inclusive economy, ensuring that even in the face of business challenges, the core mission of job creation and community resilience is sustained.
Written by Lucy Ndumi
