The national government has signed a deal with seven local banks that will allow small business owners to access a newly funded Ksh 500 billion pool.
According to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s statement, the state-backed credit guarantee scheme will be extended at single digits rates.
This means that the maximum interest rate the banks will be allowed to charge is 9%. The president further revealed that the credit facility will be available until the end of the 2021/2022 financial year.
Applicants are required to be based in Kenya, prove to be tax compliant, provide a valid business permit, and prove to be creditworthy.
Additionally, the business owner will be required to prove that once granted, the credit will be used for work capital requirements, to acquire assets, or rebuild a struggling business.
In a bid to lock out big companies from accessing the funds meant for Micro and Small Enterprises, the government has set new provisions for firms to be considered medium-sized under the Micro and Small Enterprises Act, 2012.
“A company is of medium size if its annual turnover does not exceed Ksh100 million and employs between 51 to 250 people,” it reads in part.
Companies found guilty of falsifying information to access the new state loan will be slapped with a fine not exceeding Ksh5 million or face jail for two years, or both.
Kenya’s MSMEs are the backbone of the economy in that they employ an estimated 14.9 million Kenyans, contributing about 40% of Kenya’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Almost 90% of small businesses fear they may not survive the Covid-19 crisis, and need access to practical tools and support to prevent financial loss, according to a recent survey of entrepreneurs by the African Management Institute (AMI).
As with the rest of the world, the impact of Covid-19 in Kenya has stretched beyond the sphere of healthcare and the spread of the actual virus, as economic development outcomes are expected to be seriously affected by the disruption caused both globally and locally.
In fact, one of the working hypotheses of the impact of Covid-19 on African nations is that the substantive impact of the virus on livelihoods will occur less from health-related issues than the economic shock, disruption, and government response to the crisis.
