Kenyan Government launches the Delivery Portal Unit

Have you ever wondered what the current government has been able to achieve since they came into power?

President Uhuru Kenyatta  the other day launched National Government public information portal:  www.delivery.go.ke The delivery portal allows every Kenyan to access details of all investments made by the Jubilee Government over the last 4 years. The portal delivers information on their programmes, Ministry milestones and the work the National Government is doing in the 47 Counties.

I was particularly interested in what they have done for women and youth since they came into power. From the delivery portal, you can choose to see what different ministries have done, as well as the developments in the counties.

I chose the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender as this directly affects me and my business. Among the things that I saw were:

• The youth empowerment program through NYS
• Affordable loans for youth enterprises
• Job Skills training for the youth
• Transformed public service
• Increasing Gender parity in public service
• Multi-billion shilling funding for women enterprises

I was curious on the funding for women, as we have covered many topics on this platform on different ways women can raise money for their businesses and to be honest, i was surprised to find this information on the portal.

Here is what the fund has been able to achieve so far:

The Fund Creates an avenue for incubating enterprises, create employment and catalyzing innovation among women.
2013	The only Funding for women enterprises was Women Enterprise Fund(WEF) where Ksh.2.9B was disbursed to 19,803 groups benefiting 651,875 individuals over a period of 5 years from 2008 to 2013.
Current Status	Additional Women Funding Sources established increasing more funding for women: Women Enterprise Fund(WEF)- Ksh. 9.7B   disbursed to 72,033 groups benefiting 1,326,512 individuals UWEZO Fund-Ksh5.22 Billion disbursed to 59,448 groups reaching 881,194 beneficiaries National Government Affirmative Action Fund(NGAAF)-Ksh 4.2B disbursed to Counties
Progress	Women Enterprise Fund(WEF)-Additional Ksh 6.9B (235% increase) disbursed through Constituency Women Enterprise Scheme to additional 52,230 groups(264% increase) benefiting additional 674,637 individuals (103% increase). UWEZO Fund-Ksh 5.1B funds disbursed to 846,949 beneficiaries (100%) National Government Affirmative Action Fund(NGAAF)-Ksh 1.3B disbursed to Counties (100%)
Impact	Creation of self employment among women Enhanced access to credit facilities at counties and constituency level Improved standard of living among women Reduced inequalities among men and women Enhanced participation of women in Socio-economic development

 

It just dawned to me that we have three funds at our disposal, as youth and women. To be very honest, I have never applied for any of these funds.

APPLY FOR ONE: GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR KENYAN ENTREPRENEURS

During the launch of the Delivery Portal Unit, a lady called Irene Kalekye shared her story on how she went from being a ‘mama mboga’ to a vegetables and fruits supplier to big institutions. She listed her business with AGPO and after a few months, she was asked to tender to supply vegetables to Kenyatta University. She got it and the tender was Ksh 1.5 million. She spent a month looking for funds and she finally ended up at the Youth Fund. With her LPO, she was able to get funds in just three days to supply the tender.

Three days was a bit suspicious so I asked the Youth Fund boss if this was the case, and here was his response.

You try it

— Ronald Osumba (@RonnieOsumba) April 10, 2017

Well,  I think I will give these Government Funds a try to boost my business. What about you?