Country
Kenya
Local Project Partners
WYLDE International, Nairobi
German Project Partner
ICON-Institut Sustain GmbH, Cologne
Donor
GIZ
Duration
01.03.2025 - 30.11.2026
The Kenyan government has made great efforts to promote MSMEs, including through access to finance. Initiatives have been launched for youth and women-led enterprises, targeting access to finance and other business development services (BDS) providers. Nevertheless, MSMEs continue to face bottlenecks and struggle to reach their full potential.
Greater access to sources of financing and a wider range of financial services strengthen the stability of Kenya’s financial sector. The project’s objectives focus on improving access, networking, and the capabilities of the supply side to meet the needs of the demand side (SMEs) with suitable products and services. These challenges primarily affect businesses led by women and young people, due to factors such as high risk aversion among financiers, lack of collateral, limited financial literacy, and gender-based biases.
Project Tasks
Implementation of measures defined by the client within the consortium:
- Raising awareness of new/alternative financial services, assistance with product development.
- Design and implementation of special toolkits for loan applications (collaboration with financial institutions to jointly develop tailor-made toolkits for beneficiaries).
- Planning pitch sessions for financial institutions to evaluate potential customers.
- Capacity building to provide financial education and business management programmes tailored to the needs of different beneficiaries (strengthening the capacities of actors in the entrepreneurship ecosystem in three districts).
