Social Enterprise Project
Makayuni (Tanzania)
This exciting new project sees RoundTrip Foundation teaming up with the Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC) of Tanzania and SafariBookings to deliver a social enterprise project in northern Tanzania. The project will see a retail outlet selling souvenirs and artefacts for tourists built in the township of Makuyuni. It will be owned, run and staffed by local Maasai women, and will also include a cafe and toilets.
In 2022, RoundTrip was awarded a major grant from the June Canavan Foundation, who are wonderful, enthusiastic supporters of this project. The generosity and vision of the June Canavan Foundation has made this project a reality. We are proud to have them as a partner organisation in this Social Enterprise project in Tanzania.
Who is Involved
Pastoral Women’s Council of Tanzania has worked with Maasai women for 25 years, developing village savings and loans groups, cultural tourism enterprises and educating women on reproductive and other health issues.
SafariBookings is an online comparison site for booking safari travel in Africa. When the social enterprise is up and running it will encourage tour operators on its website to stop at the site on their way to the Serengeti National Park, providing a constant stream of potential customers for the retail outlet and the cafe.
RoundTrip Foundation has already provided funds in order for the land to be secured for the project. We will look at additional funding as the project moves forward. We will also provide advice and training around good development practice and outcomes for the local community once the enterprise is up and running.
June Canavan Foundation is the major financial donor for the project and is extremely supportive. The June Canavan Foundation was established in 2010 to honour the memory of Dr June Canavan. It builds on June’s humanitarian work.
Using Tourism to Fund Development Projects
This project has the potential to have a positive impact on approximately 100 local Maasai families by enabling Maasai women to develop and direct their own income generation, outside of their traditional household and animal husbandry work.
Aligning with RoundTrip’s values around ‘harnessing the power of travel to fight poverty’, this model of social enterprise development will see proceeds from the sale of souvenirs to tourists fund development in the local community at Makayuni.
The project requires external funds for the initial build, with the enterprise then becoming self-sustaining over time, with profits being channelled into the community to address local needs. Income generation from the social enterprise will be used to build infrastructure that would alleviate the hardships currently associated with insecure seasonal access to adequate food and water. Ensuring access to an adequate and continuous water supply, sanitation facilities and secure nutrition are important goals of the project. Beyond that, the broadening of opportunities for Maasai people, particularly women, to develop skills and generate income without moving to the city is also seen as a positive step in maintaining culture and livelihoods.
Maanda Ngoitiko, CEO of the Pastoral Women’s Council, has spent 20 years fighting for land rights and helping local women to get an education
There are many small wattle and daub churches scattered in the dry rift valley, catering for villages with few other services
The eland in this picture stays with a herd of cows and hasn’t yet realised that it is not a cow
Young Maasai men move the cattle between waterholes – as the drought gets worse they have to walk vast distances to find enough water for the cattle
Men of Makuyuni area support the Pastoral Womens Council in their efforts to create income for local Maasai women
Mt Lengai is a culturally significant volcano for the Maasai of the Ngorongoro area
Tanzanian smiling women in social enterprise – Roundtrip foundation
Selling beadwork at the side of the road is a source of income which is pooled by local women to pay for a water truck that delivers water once a week
Volcano near Lake Natron
Traditional dancing and singing are part of the welcome in a Maasai village
Maasai women welcome visitors to their micro-credit association meeting
Watermelons for sale in the bustling small town of Mto wa Mbu, near the shores of Lake Manyara
The Maasai woman on the left is the local healer, her knowledge of plants and their uses is encyclopedic
Kate and Maanda discussing the proposed social enterprise with Maasai women
Inspecting the site for the proposed social enterprise near Makuyuni
Maasai couple near Makuyuni, Tanzania
Maasai women are responsible for building and maintaining the boma (house), while men move the cattle to find water and feed
Maasai women wearing traditional beadwork in Tanzania near Makuyuni
Kate is welcomed and shown the traditional dress by Maasai women near Makuyuni
Katibu works for the PWC as a field officer visiting villages and assisting them with development objectives
The museum needs a revamp and with the recent election of women to the board it is likely to improve