KICK is an acronym for Kisumu Innovation Centre Kenya. It was registered as an NGO in 1993 in order to offer technical skills and business training, product design and development, and office support services to informal sector enterprises. Given the intense competition amongst informal sector enterprises that largely produced similar products, KICK aimed to diversify the products that they made. Product development led to an array of attractive wood, textile, sheet metal, and wrought iron products. The difficulty of selling the products in Kisumu due to the high prices and appeal to expatriate tastes led to the development of a marketing department – thereby pushing KICK into its social enterprise trajectory. It has never looked back since then.

Social enterprise has kept the KICK Dream alive – without it, the organisation would have been a historical footnote after the NGOs donor funding dried out in 2005 following changes in donor priorities. It is a testament that social enterprise can support the sustainability of non-profitorganisations – but only if done right.

Following the operalisation of the Public Benefits Authority (PBO) Act, KICK was registered as a PBO in June 2025.