By Dominic Kirui
Business Advisory Service Providers
(BASPs), Financial Institutions (FIs),
business executives, international
investors, senior government officials,
and multilateral stakeholders held a
workshop to discuss access to finance by
SMEs in the country.
For many women in the country,
initiating and successfully running a
business is an uphill task, because of
many hurdles by players in the sector,
from financial institutions to
government licensing institutions.
Angela Odero, the Chief Executive
Officer for Rio Fish, a Kenyan social
enterprise based in HomaBay County that
is providing a consistent supply of fish
and linking women fish farmers with
economic opportunities, says that
accessing credit is an issue for women
in business.
“Most banks demands for audited accounts
before they can lend money to majority
of SMEs. Walk with us. You find that
most women small businesses don’t even
have records, but I am sure as any
finance person, if you can look at money
coming in and money going out, you will
find something you can work with”, she
says.
Odero also says that the issue of
collateral requirement by financial
institutions is a huge hurdle.
“If I go there with a title with my name
and my husband’s name and he has signed
all the documents, they still want to
talk to him. If he goes there with the
title in our names and I have signed the
documents, no one wants to talk to me.
So I don’t know what difference it
makes,” she explains.
There is, however, need for non-
governmental organisations and private
sector to ensure that Kenyan businesses
benefit from their investments in the
country.
While speaking at the launch of the two-
day event, David Osiany, the Chief
Administrative Secretary for the
Ministry of Industrialization, Trade &
Enterprise Development said that Kenya
is already having progressive
conversations with the American
government to ensure that mutual
interests are met.
“I’m really hoping that all our funders
coming into the country for impact
really come to support our businesses to
grow, then we will comfortably and
confidently speak. shared prosperity
then we will have employed many more
Kenyans and our women will be dignified.
Then our manufacturing sector will
bulge,” Osiany says.
He also adds that his ministry is in
talks with the United States government
to ensure a win-win situation for the
two countries.
“I know that we are having wonderful
conversations and negotiations in my
ministry with the United States. Our
trade negotiations are ongoing. And each
time we have those conversations it
demonstrates the mutuality that we have
towards shared prosperity even when we
are trying to ensure that our interests
are best case,” he says.
Osiany also identified agribusiness as a
sector that is underfunded, yet employs
a majority of Kenyans, its potential
which is yet to be fully exploited.
“Africa accounts for upwards of 40% of
the world’s arable land. And to focus on
agriculture is inspiring for me. It is
important as Kenya makes its
contribution to the African dream of
reviving and finding its capability
within the outer space feeding the
world,” he adds.
Lucy Mitei, the gender specialist at
USAID’s Kenya Investment Mechanism say
that there is hope for a better future
for the Kenyan women in business.
“The financing landscape is looking
promising for Kenyan businesswoman as we
have made notable strides with regard
to accommodating the strategic needs and
interests of women-SMEs. Moving
forward, we need more honest
conversations on how best to address the
key barriers to financing as I feel
that in the past, we have modeled
financing solutions without the women’s
voice and views, and thus missed out on
a huge potential”, she advises.
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