AAA took part as a partner in the third Annual SME Conference, Awards and Exhibition convened by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA). The conference brought together entrepreneurs, industry leaders, policymakers, financiers, development partners and exhibitors under the theme Beyond Survival: Building Smart and Resilient Businesses.
The scale of the opportunity
Kenya’s 7.4 million micro, small and medium enterprises employ an estimated 15 million people and account for roughly 40 per cent of national output. Yet they face a financing gap put at KES 3 trillion, alongside high borrowing costs and low formalisation.
What speakers said
Speaking for the Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives and MSME Development, Principal Secretary Susan Mang’eni argued that formalisation should be a pathway to opportunity — supported by flexible policy, appropriate taxation and incentives rather than compliance pressure alone — and challenged established companies to mentor emerging entrepreneurs.
KEPSA Chief Executive Carole Kariuki made the case that isolated interventions do not build enterprises: finance, skills, technology and market opportunity have to reinforce one another. Financiers echoed the point, describing unsecured working-capital, purchase-order and duty financing designed around how small businesses actually trade, while noting that capital alone does not make a business investable.
The conference closed with the SME Innovation Excellence Awards and the SME Enablers Awards, recognising enterprises and support organisations advancing innovation and enterprise growth.
From the conference floor: the business cost of unsafe workplaces
A study presented at the conference by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) puts the annual cost of gender-based violence and harassment to Kenya’s private sector at roughly KES 95.5 billion — about 1 per cent of GDP. More than a third of employees surveyed had experienced it directly, and most cases went unreported. The study recommends standalone workplace policies, credible reporting channels and integration into ESG frameworks. It is available from the IFC website.
