The Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) has inked a Ksh800 million deal with Nakuru County aimed at supporting Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and cooperatives in Nakuru County to help them weather the effects of the Covid-19.
Under the arrangement, KCB will provide affordable facilities to enterprises and cooperative societies whose businesses have been affected by Covid-19. In the arrangement, the County Government has set aside Ksh52 million as interest subsidy and credit guarantee. In this case, the government will pay part of the interest (five percent) while business owners and/or cooperative societies will pay the balance of 7.5 percent.
“We want to support the businesses as they push for recovery from the effects of Covid-19. We are deliberate in our effort to be the ‘partner kwa ground’ for support towards MSMEs across the country. We believe that the support given will go long way to benefit the livelihoods of our people and our economy as a whole,” said KCB Bank Director Retail Annastacia Kimtai.
This fund targets existing MSMEs in Nakuru County where entrepreneurs will be financed according to their ability to pay based on their cash flows.
Last year, KCB partnered with various Counties in lending to MSMEs under interest subsidy and Credit Guarantee to cushion them from the effects of COVID 19.
”We are keen on this partnership as it speaks directly to the core of our economy- MSMEs. The country is aligned to the fact that this segment is what drives the economy and therefore requires to be fully supported,” said Nakuru County Governor Lee Kinyanjui.
Beyond the funding, KCB will also support entrepreneurs through its social investment arm KCB Foundation where through the 2iajiri programme, it will provide youths with skills training and business development support to grow their businesses.
In 2020 at the height of Covid-19 KCB signed a partnership agreement with World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) as lead syndicator to scale up lending to micro, small and medium enterprises including women-owned businesses.
Leave a comment