When State's goodies for small firms aren't felt

MSMEs PS Susan Mang'eni (left) and MSEA chief executive Henry Rithaa during a meeting with development partners at a Nairobi hotel, July 14, 2023. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Job seekers

He said the fund seeks to make young people job creators and not job seekers.

"Those funds have had a high impact in terms of job creation," he said adding that the fund has so far disbursed Sh15.8 billion to benefit 2.1 million youth. He noted that unlike Uwezo Fund which works in groups, what the Youth Fund has realised is that the youth do not like pooling.

This is especially the case for those who are college and university graduates.

"That is the segment we want to promote," he told the development partners.

Already from the breakdown of the funds, Hustler Fund, which recently launched a group loan product, overlaps with Uwezo Fund which works in groups as well. Youth Fund does the same only that it seeks to create a niche because their data shows college and university graduates prefer going solo in their businesses.

"What we have learnt is young people prefer working not in groups especially those who graduate from college and university. They do not like joint or group programmes. They like establishing their own firms and pursuing their goals," said Mr Moriasi.

MSEA, as explained by the chief executive Henry Rithaa is the body that ensures micro and small businesses are registered and formalised. This then ensures that they have the legitimacy to transact and do business. This is what the PS referred to as the big brother to all state agencies.

"That formalisation is not just at the individual level but also appreciating the micro sector, we formalise them through corporative, associations and groups; to soften the ground for higher level of formalisation in the entrepreneurship space," he explained.

The PS noted that there are 18 million MSMEs in the country but only five million have some form of registration.

"Nobody knows where they are. We have no basic KYC (Know Your Customer) about them so that they can be assisted, supported and financed," she said.

She said the government is working to ensure it brings all these businesses on its radar.

"We want at any given time when we wake up, we are able to determine how many businesses are at micro, small or medium," she said,

The PS noted that as a government, there is a lot happening in this sector, yet little is seen on the ground

"The reason people are not feeling our efforts is because we are not pulling (our effort) together. The state department is creating a platform for that," she said.

She pointed out capacity building as one of those fragmented areas where agencies and development partners do not leverage previous trainings done for business owners.

As such, when new funding or new partner comes to the fore, they go back and start training again for another set of businesses.

"If you are running another programme of financing, will we again begin from a level of training? What has been happening is we see people going back and begin the process, and a lot of SMEs get lost on the way," she said. "You should build on what someone else has done because it is an ecosystem."