Stanbic Kenya Foundation and United States African Development Fund (USADF) have called on Kenyan Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to submit their applications for the 2023's Sh6.1 million ($50,000) grant funding to expand their businesses and address the gaps in their internal systems.
Dubbed Accelerate your Biashara, the programme seeks to equip SMEs as well as co-operatives and producer groups with capabilities to enable them to attain 100 per cent investment requirements by commercial investors.
Eligible firms must be legally registered in Kenya and have basic functional management as well as financial control for not less than two years.
Similarly, they will be required to have a banking history of at least one year.
Entrants must also have applied for commercial investment before but the application was denied due to internal systems and capability gaps.
The application deadline is midnight December 21, 2022.
The successful applicants must be able to have a well-defined problem that qualifies for the grant and be able to raise at least half of the total capital needed for its implementation adding to Sh3 million.
As a way of growing revenues, applicants will also be required to have a clearly defined market opportunity for the business.
If selected, an applicant must be willing to share detail and evidence of why their past commercial evidence was rejected.
USADF is a US government agency with an investment objective of increasing incomes, revenues, and jobs by promoting self-reliance and market-based solutions to poverty.
It also provides seed capital and technical assistance to women-led enterprises and young African entrepreneurs to create and expand markets.
The financial aid comes at a time when many SMEs in Kenya are facing economic challenges partly attributed to inflation, and high-interest rates with short repayment periods making it very difficult to embark on any developmental or expansion projects.
