More than 1,000 SMEs in the Western and North Rift Kenya region are poised to benefit from a business empowerment tour by Absa Bank Kenya.
The tour is courtesy of a partnership between the bank and the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI).
On Friday, the tour made a stop in Eldoret town for a stakeholder engagement session with the Uasin Gishu County Government and business communities from the town.
Speaking during the Eldoret event, interim Absa Bank Kenya PLC Managing Director Yusuf Omari reiterated that the campaign is aimed at building the capacity of businesses in the Western and North Rift regions.
This is part of Absa’s commitment to continue working with the people of Kenya to achieve shared success and bring new possibilities to life.
At least 200 SMEs attended the Eldoret event that focused on identifying and exploiting opportunities for growth.
“As an enabler of business, we understand that empowering SMEs makes a substantial contribution to livelihoods and fosters inclusive growth for the region,” said Omari.
Wezesha Biashara Program
The bank has disbursed over Ksh50 billion over the last five years in loans through the Wezesha Biashara Program repositioning it as an enabler for small, medium and micro enterprises, and as a result recording double-digit growth from the sector in the last year alone.
In addition, the Absa bank has impacted over 20,000 women businesses in the last year through the Women in the Business proposition that seeks to empower over 1 million women by providing unsecured lending of up to Ksh10 million, payable over 5 years for existing borrowers and Ksh7 million for new borrowers payable in 4 years.
While lauding the County Government of Uasin Gishu for setting up an investor-friendly environment for the private sector, the interim Absa Bank Kenya MD added that the bank had entered into a strategic partnership to drive grassroots engagement with businesses from both an industry and institutional level touching on key sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, logistics and tourism.
“We have partnered with KNCCI to provide mentorship and networking opportunities to businessmen and women across Uasin Gishu County as part of our efforts to support enterprise development. On the forum’s agenda are critical issues like how to formalize business, access the right business products as well as ready markets for their goods and services,” he added.
Earlier this year, in partnership with the KNCCI, Absa has upskilled over 1000 women entrepreneurs in Nairobi, Coast, Western, Nyanza and the Rift Valley regions, training them on business fundamentals such as sustainability, fundraising, book-keeping, and networking to transform them into profitable operations.
