A total of 282 Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Laikipia County have so far benefited from Ksh 129 million from a subsidized Economic Stimulus Fund.
The county Stimulus Fund Manager Jesse Muriithi spoke during the Laikipia Economic Stimulus Stakeholders Engagement webinar meeting Thursday, however, decried the prevailing low loan uptake, citing lack of trading licenses, CRB listing and cash flow as among the key challenges facing SMEs when they try to apply for the loan.
“If you have not done the application, kindly do so, for with the proper documents the loan will be disbursed within a week,” said Muriithi, urging banks to expedite 48 pending applications.
He said the program began last year after the county administration partnered with local banks aimed at helping businesses grow by lending them up to Ksh 3 billion subsidized bank loans.
Muriithi said since then some 248 business enterprises have benefited with working capital, 27 others got invoice discounting, while the rest benefited from asset financing, cooperative loans and Local Purchase Orders (LPOs).
During the webinar meeting, it was further established that many of the businesses applied for less than Sh100, 000, with Nanyuki town leading with 158 applications.
A resident, David Tuitoek, called on the county government to undertake an assessment survey to establish why residents were not applying for the loan and at the same time review the loan application requirements to widen the scope of the applicants.
The county government partnered with KCB, Cooperative, Family Bank and Equity bank in 2020 to enable the SMEs in the region to access Economic Stimulus Fund at a five per cent subsidized rate in a bid to stimulate the local economy.