Investing in Cooperative Futures
We pair deep cooperative expertise — grounded in a published, ISBN-registered handbook and years of hands-on work in Kenya — with the practical capacity to originate projects, assemble partners, and do the funding legwork.
New as an organisation, not new to the work
Shirikiana the organisation launched in 2026 — we won’t pretend otherwise. But the people behind it have been doing this work for decades.
Amb. Bramwel W. Kisuya served as Kenya’s Ambassador to Spain and Permanent Representative to the UN World Tourism Organization, lectured on cooperative philosophy at the Cooperative College of Kenya, and led the first official visit to the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation in 2011 — the meeting that produced a Memorandum of Understanding between the Cooperative College of Kenya and Mondragon University, still on record today. Martin Hoffmann brings a production and grant-funding background from feature films to the project-development side of this work.
Deep Expertise
Decades of hands-on cooperative work in Kenya, grounded in a published, ISBN-registered handbook.
Diplomatic Reach
Kenya’s former Ambassador to Spain and Permanent Representative to the UN World Tourism Organization.
Mondragon Link
The 2011 visit that produced an MoU with the Cooperative College of Kenya — still on record.
Funding Craft
A production and grant-funding background applied directly to project development.
What We Are Currently Promoting
We are looking for partners who share our recognition that sustainable growth requires collective effort — and who want to be named for it.
University Collaborators
Research partnerships, starting with a permaculture programme we are currently assembling.
Training-Licence Partners
Partners who can help us reach more people.
Land & Agricultural Partners
Land and farming partners for our permaculture and land-based projects.
Diaspora Investors
Kenyans abroad with family ties to member cooperatives, investing in the infrastructure that lifts productivity from production through to consumption.
Investment & Partnership Structures
Cooperatives in Africa often stagnate for lack of capital and management expertise, and rarely use the partnership structures that private enterprise takes for granted. Here is how we structure outside investment without compromising a cooperative’s independence.
Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs)
Lets a cooperative co-invest in production, processing or distribution with outside partners while keeping its autonomy — anchored in the cooperative’s own by-laws, with the AGM confirming any partnership.
Principles for Equity Investors
Risk and return, participation in Engineering, Procurement and Construction, the financial structure of cooperative investments, and alternative structures including Islamic financing.
De-Risking Job Creation
Climate modelling and risk intelligence, agricultural insurance, risk financing strategies and disaster risk monitoring.
Baseline Surveys
Strategic and management capacity, technical and engineering capacity, and sector-specific capacity — measured before any SPV goes ahead.
| Structure type | Ideal for | Primary objective |
|---|---|---|
| Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) | Cooperatives with outside co-investors | Joint production, processing or distribution |
| Equity Investment | Impact funds & diaspora investors | Scaling cooperative infrastructure |
| Knowledge Exchange | Universities & TVET centres | Curriculum, research and technical assistance |
Bridging Academia & Industry
Creating sustainable jobs at the lowest administrative unit in devolved governments requires strengthening an ecosystem of cooperatives, universities, TVET centres, schools and Common Interest Groups linked to Aggregation Centres and County Industrial Parks.
Alignment with the Arizmendiarrieta Social Economy Think Tank (ASETT) and the EU’s Global Gateway initiative.
Proximity to client cooperatives, infrastructure for research and skills transfer, and the ability to build international partnerships.
What this creates: climate-smart precision agriculture, agri-technology from farm to fork, infrastructure around ward-level growth centres — and youth organised, equipped and employment-ready.
Market Access & International Standards
We help cooperatives and their partners meet international handling standards so their commodities can reach export markets.
Wholesale Market Development
Technical assistance in building the market linkages that export buyers require.
Training & Capacity Building
Equipping cooperative members and their partners to meet international handling standards.
Follow-Up Quality Assurance
Continued quality assurance after training, so standards hold once commodities start moving.
Start a Dialogue
A short message — routed directly to Bramwel and Martin. No account creation, no chatbot.
Tell us three things
Your organisation, your area of interest — research, funding, a training licence, land, or something else — and a short message. We will route it to the right person.
info@shirikiana.co.ke
Nairobi, Kenya — Regional Operations
Shirikiana —> to work with one another. The founding values of the cooperative movement, self-help, self-responsibility and solidarity, remain the most practical basis for collective enterprise. We join knowledge, applied action and ethical responsibility in member-owned, member-governed enterprise, guided by the International Cooperative Alliance’s principle of concern for community. We proceed incrementally, attribute every partner by name, and distinguish demonstrated capacity from stated intent.