ICDC offers financial boost to SMEs and start ups

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups are set to benefit from financial solutions aimed at increasing employment opportunities and advancing economic growth in the country.

Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC) said that it will support SMEs and start-ups with financial solutions such as business advisory services, equity partnerships and debt financing.

ICDC said that it is opening its doors to SMEs and start-ups who have constantly expressed challenges in carrying out their operations. These include acquiring growth capital, lack of guidance in nurturing their businesses and inaccessibility to markets for their products or services.

Addressing different stakeholders present at the Nairobi Innovation Week at the University of Nairobi on Friday, ICDC Acting Executive Director Kennedy Wanderi urged companies in the financial sector to foster relationships with SMEs in order to facilitate their growth.

“There is a crucial need to boost SMES so that they can flourish into larger enterprises which can in turn offer more employment opportunities and grow the economy,” said Wanderi.

In the last five years, ICDC has invested over Ksh4 billion in SMES and has created over 1850 direct and indirect jobs in the last one year.

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Wanderi asserted that SMEs had a role to play in creating innovative products and adopting modern techniques in book keeping and financial management so as to attract financiers.

“We have offered financial solutions to more than 100 companies. We are willing to partner with companies that are offering solutions to societal challenges and are set to create job opportunities to a large number of people,” he said.

ICDC has in the past supported businesses that have flourished and created job opportunities whilst contributing to Kenya’s economy. They include Centum Investments, General Motors East Africa, Kenya Wine Agencies Limited (KWAL), Almasi Beverages Limited and Development Bank of Kenya among many others.

The government-owned development finance institution has been in operation for the last 62 years and aims at catalysing the Kenyan SME sector as an engine for job and wealth creation by providing a wide range of creative and flexible financial solutions to SMES in different sectors of the economy.