Nation Media Group CEO Stephen Gitagama address during The second edition of the SMEs Conference and Expo held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) on March 18,2021. NMG PHOTO Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have to continuously innovate and embrace technology to navigate the economic shocks brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
To stay afloat, businesses will need financial support from government and other industry players, training to improve efficiency and productivity, as well as support from regulators in different sectors of the economy.
This came out at this year’s Nation Media Group (NMG) SMEs Conference and Expo at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre yesterday, as more than 130 exhibitors from various sectors promoted their products and services to hundreds of participants.
Stakeholders recognised that being agile to innovate quickly by coming up with means to produce essentials needed when Covid-19 hit the country proved that the industry segment has ability to grow, given the space.
“In the thick of despair and hopelessness, we saw our SMEs adapt and adopt new approaches to doing business and survival. Indeed, we saw the long-standing adage “necessity is the mother of all inventions” practically coming into play and our SMEs rising to the occasion to provide local solutions to a global pandemic,” said NMG’s chief executive officer Stephen Gitagama.
He recalled how SMEs participated in the making of hospital beds, ventilators and the production of Personal Protective Equipment to contain the pandemic, saying the country would have faced a tragedy were it not for their agility.
“Forums such as these continue to offer an opportunity for industry players to come together to discuss, ideate and strategise a way forward in these strange times,” said Mr Gitagama.
SMEs constitute about 95 per cent of businesses in a majority of African countries, and in Kenya they have created jobs for about 80 per cent of the total employment.
The businesses have, however, been facing challenges including inadequate capital, limited market access and unfavourable regulatory environment that stifle their growth.
“SMEs need to consider embracing green tech which is an area that has a lot of funding and which will see them improve their resource efficiency. There are great opportunities for the businesses that embrace green business,” said Mr Ernest Chitechi, the corporate services manager at the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre.
International lenders have recently been showing bias towards businesses that conserve the environment in their process of making money, creating an opportunity for […]
