The Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) has partnered with the International Labor Organization (ILO) to enhance financial literacy and business skills among women entrepreneurs across Kenya. The partnership aims to empower women to run sustainable businesses and effectively service their loans.
Speaking at the launch, Caroline Njuki, Chief Technical Advisor at ILO, highlighted the significance of the collaboration. “This partnership strengthens WEF’s entrepreneurship training. We have adopted a ‘training of trainers’ approach, where 57 WEF officials have been trained to reach women beneficiaries across the country. This ensures that businesses grow, jobs are created, and the revolving fund continues to support more women,” Jopé said.
The ILO, a UN agency focused on employment and social justice, has implemented the “Start and Improve Your Business” program in over 100 countries. Through this program, women entrepreneurs are trained in practical business skills such as bookkeeping, client targeting, competitiveness, and financial management to help them succeed.
WEF CEO Rachael Musyoki noted that the fund currently has about 1 billion shillings available for lending, while 2.2 billion shillings remain unpaid, limiting the fund’s capacity to reach more women. “The revolving fund depends on repayments to enable lending to new beneficiaries. We are engaging the National Treasury to secure additional allocations to strengthen our operations,” she said.
Musyoki added that WEF requires at least 3 billion shillings annually to continue supporting women entrepreneurs effectively. The fund has disbursed about 28 billion shillings since inception, primarily supporting women-led businesses in agriculture, merchandise, dairy, fisheries, meat processing, hardware, and greenhouse activities.
The training program also includes specialized modules such as Gender and Entrepreneurship Together, aimed at women with limited literacy skills, ensuring that all entrepreneurs can manage their businesses successfully.
Dr. Jane C Langat, Chairperson of WEF, emphasized the Fund’s risk management strategy, which includes lending to groups of 10 to 30 members to ensure accountability and reduce loan defaults. Members are required to register with valid identification and Safaricom numbers to facilitate tracking and recovery.
The partnership between WEF and ILO is expected to strengthen women-led enterprises nationwide, fostering economic empowerment, business growth, and job creation.
