Lindah's Founder Story - From Toli 2017 to SheEO 2026

I did not start with SheEO.

I started in 2017 with a project called Toli—deep in the villages of Gikambura, in slum areas, in town centers where nobody was really looking. I was figuring it out as I went. Most founders are. They just don't say it out loud.

From Gikambura to Kiandutu slums. Then Chuka, in partnership with Kenya Connection Kids. Then Mathare. Then Siaya and Bondo with a different organization entirely. I was moving, learning, failing forward, picking things up and putting things down.

You learn a lot when you work in places that don't appear on most people's radars.

Then came SheEO.

Piloted in Kajiado. Then Kikuyu. Then Kehancha. Many iterations. Many changes. Many lessons that arrived disguised as setbacks—which is, I have decided, the universe's favorite delivery method.

We said yes to some things. We said no to others. We dropped things that weren't working—which, if you have ever poured your heart into something that isn't working, you know is not a small thing. We picked up new things. We pivoted. More than once. And not just the organization—me, as a separate human being from the organization. That distinction matters. Linda had to pivot too.

I took a step back to build on new grounds, new fields, and new industries. Grew in directions I didn't expect. Came back with more. Kept the mission. Kept building. Now I am doing both simultaneously—growing as an individual and growing as a founder, two parallel constructions, occasionally colliding, mostly complementing.

It has been, to put it mildly, a rollercoaster.

And we haven't even left the station yet.

I look back at 2017-me, and I want to hug her and also gently tell her to brace herself.

I have cried. I have wondered. I have questioned my decisions at 2am with the kind of intensity that should probably be reserved for matters of national security. I have sat in the field with women who have less than I could imagine and watched them build with more determination than I have ever seen in a boardroom. I have been humbled. Repeatedly. Gratefully.

But here is what I have never questioned: the work.

Not once. Not for a single day.

The stories from the field make it all worthwhile. The partners backing us make us believe harder. When Roseline rebuilds after fraud and demolitions and shows up to lead her savings group—I believe harder. When Beatrice, 30 years in business, opens every single day because she finally has stock—I believe harder. When a savings group grows their kitty 187% in three months—I believe harder.

In another life, I would make the same decision. Every time.

The thing I did not expect? Resilience.

I genuinely did not know I had it. I would not have listed it as a personality trait in 2017. I was passionate, yes. Committed, yes. But resilient?

Ooh. Try me.

Building SheEO has made me someone I did not know I could be. That is perhaps the greatest return on any investment I have ever made—not in the organization, but in myself through the organization.

I am a completely different person. Shaped, specifically, by what this work has taught me and continues to teach me every single day.

And I am just getting started.

To every person who has walked any part of this road with me—the early Toli days, the pilots, the pivots, the field visits, the partnerships, the hard conversations, and the small wins we celebrated loudly because sometimes a small win is everything—thank you.

We are building something real.

Watch this space. 👀

@SheEOFoundation

#SheEO #FounderStory #WomenEmpowerment #SocialEnterprise #Kenya #FinancialInclusion #ImpactInvesting #Resilience #BuildingInAfrica #AfricaRising #Kibera #BuiltWithThem #TheJourney