The Kakuma refugee camp is a decades-old community of more than 300,000 people in northwest Kenya. Lifta, a company based near the camp, provides clean, bottled mineral water and plastic recycling services, mostly to Kakuma households. It bottles about 60,000 liters per day. A loan from iGravity’s Refugee Investment Facility will help the company ramp up its water production and recycling capacity.
The investment, Switzerland-based iGravity’s first in Kenya, “demonstrates that high-growth, commercially viable businesses can emerge from displacement-affected regions,” said iGravity’s Fredrick Oloo. About 44% of Lifta’s staff and 60% of its contractual and sporadic workers are refugees.
Growth plans
Lifta has 10 water distribution points for its customers, seven of which are run by women. The company expanded into recycling in 2024, building one of the first plastic recycling facilities in the region. Last year it secured a grant from the Kakuma Kalobeyei Challenge Fund for refugee-serving businesses to purchase water treatment and recycling equipment. The grant helped Lifta lower its per-liter water costs from 50 Kenyan shillings ($0.40) to about 10 shillings per liter.
Refugee impact
More global conflict means more human displacement (see, “Conflict in the Middle East creates (even more) refugees in need of livelihoods, services and impact investment”). Many displaced people are becoming long-term residents in new communities and need resources other than aid for their security, wellbeing and economic opportunity.
iGravity has provided loans to 10 refugee-led and -focused businesses through its Refugee Investment Facility. It launched the funding vehicle in 2022 in collaboration with the Danish Refugee Council to provide low-cost loans to businesses providing services, products and job opportunities to communities facing long-term displacement from crisis and conflict.