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 Government of Kenya has taken major strides to promote MSMEs, including through access to finance, driven by policies and initiatives such as the Kenya Vision 2030 and the Kenya Industrial Estates (KIE) program under the Ministry of Cooperatives and Micro, Small and Medium Development. Furthermore, initiatives targeting youths and women-led businesses aimed at access to finance and other Businesses Development Service (BDS) providers have emerged to boost youths and women-led MSMEs. Nonetheless, MSMEs still face bottlenecks and struggle to grow to their full potentials.

Financial deepening and transformation have contributed to Kenya’s financial sector stability and earned the country the position of East Africa’s financial hub. This is evidenced by the broadened financial system, diversified availability of financing sources and extended scope of financial services. This positive positioning, however, has not fully translated into broad-based access to finance for businesses in Kenya, particularly for new ventures. The challenge of lack of access to finance and non-financial BDS is a major hinderance to business growth and employment creation. The challenge not only lies in access but also in linkages and capabilities of the supply side (FSP/BDS providers) to meet the needs of the demand side (MSMEs) in form of targeted products and services. Most affected of these challenges are women and youth-led businesses due to factors such as the high risk aversion by financiers, a lack of collateral, limited financial literacy and gender bias.

Project Tasks

• Intervention 1: Awareness creation for new / alternative financial services suited for SEED beneficiaries, and support for product development. (Needs assessment and institutional diagnostic/ Product development, capacity building and advisory/ Awareness creation for alternative funders
• Intervention 2: Design and implementation of loan application toolkits tailored to SEED beneficiaries (This intervention aims to collaborate with FSPs to co-design loan application toolkits tailored to SEED beneficiaries There will also be pitch sessions for the FSPs to asses’ potential clients).
• Intervention 3: Capacity building of AoEEs to deliver financial literacy programmes tailored to the needs of different types of SEED beneficiaries (strengthen the capacity of Actors of the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (AoEEs) in Kenya’s Nakuru, Kisumu, and Uasin Gishu counties to deliver tailored financial literacy and business management programs to different types of SEED beneficiaries).