Mary Mueni

Mary Mueni is a young agripreneur from Makueni County who turned a handful of chickens into a growing agribusiness and a platform for teaching others. After finishing a degree in Entrepreneurship Management, she struggled to find a job and kept five chickens more as a pastime than a plan. She has described that period as having ambition without a clear path forward.

Her turning point came when KEITT Exporters, backed by CABI through the PlantwisePlus programme, picked her for a youth training on plant health, agribusiness and leadership. She qualified as a Plant Doctor and, during business modelling sessions, discovered a fast growing, protein rich feed she could cultivate herself. Growing it cut her feed costs sharply, and when neighbouring farmers asked to buy it, she turned it into a small enterprise of its own. Her flock has since grown from five birds to 45, and she plans to introduce improved breeds.

Mary now works as a Trainer of Trainers with the Micro-Enterprise Support Program Trust, coaching farmers on poultry, climate-smart agriculture and agribusiness management. In May 2025 she led hands-on climate-smart training for mango farmers in Wote Nziu. Sixteen young people learn poultry keeping and feed growing under her mentorship, and her youth group placed third nationally in the TUPANDE agribusiness competition run by One Acre Fund with the Mastercard Foundation, using its prize and donated seedlings to start a youth-led tree nursery.