Businesses fail to thrive due to lack of finances, says report

Nairobi; Kenya: Kenya is among 10 countries in Africa where lack of finances is the main barrier to financial prosperity.
The findings of a new report released yesterday by the Barclays Bank Africa indicates lack of finance is brought about by lack of jobs, low salaries for those in employment and lack of business opportunities.

The report states that lack of access to credit by entrepreneurs has been contributing to low creation of wealth, which subsequently has had negative impact on the economy, notably increased poverty and underdevelopment.
Speaking during the release of the results in Nairobi, Barclays Bank of Kenya’s Managing Director Jeremy Awori notes that 72 per cent of Kenyans fail to thrive due to lack of credit from the local financial avenues.

“The three major obstacles to financial prosperity reported by the survey participants included lack of finances, which stood at 68.9 per cent, lack of opportunity (50 per cent) and a lack of financial advice at 26.2 per cent. In the case of lack of finance, this factor was a prominent barrier in Zimbabwe (75 per cent and Kenya (72 per cent),” explained Awori.
There have been deliberate efforts to enhance financial inclusion in the country to enabling more Kenyans access credit to grow their enterprises.

The country has less than 20 million bank account holders.
The survey was carried out between April and August 2014, and collected views from 7,000 youth, across 11 countries, including Botswana, Mozambique, Seychelles, Mauritius, Tanzania, Ghana, Zambia, Uganda, Zimbabwe and later Egypt.

Awori explained that youth in Africa given the right tools are set to become the drivers of economic prosperity. “The Africa’s urban youth consider investment and savings as vehicles to financial independence, describing financial freedom as having enough personal wealth to live, without having to actively work to pay for basic necessities.
Kenyan youth consider purchasing books and computers as the key to their financial freedom,” reckons Awori.