The Stanbic Kenya Foundation and the United States Africa Development Fund (USADF) have invited Kenya’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to make applications for business boost funding. The programme kitty of KSh 6.1 million ($50,000) for 2023 is available for business expansion and tackling challenges in their internal systems.
The program is Dubbed ‘Biashara Accelerator’, which aims to equip SMEs as well as cooperatives and production groups with the ability to meet 100% of commercial investors’ requirements.
Eligible business entities must be legally registered in Kenya and have basic functional management and financial control for at least two years.
Likewise, they will be required to have a banking history of at least one year.
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Also, applicants must have applied for commercial investment before but the application was denied due to internal systems and capability gaps.
The application must be submitted on or before midnight of December 21, 2022.
Successful applicants must be able to clearly define the issue of eligibility for the grant and be able to raise at least half of the total capital required for implementation, in addition to KSh 3 million.
Additionally, applicants will be required to have a clearly defined market opportunity for the business, as a way of growing revenues.
Selected applicant(s) must be willing to share detail and evidence of why their past commercial evidence was rejected.
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USADF is an agency of the United States government whose investment objective is to increase income, revenue, and employment by promoting market-based and self-sufficient solutions to poverty.
It also provides seed capital and technical support to young African entrepreneurs and women-led enterprises to create and grow markets.
The financial aid comes at an opportune time as many SMEs in the country are fighting economic challenges partly attributed to inflation, and high-interest rates with short repayment periods. The aforementioned challenges have made it very difficult for entrepreneurs to undertake any developmental or expansion projects.
