The Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Public Service and Gender Professor Margaret Kobia has called on beneficiaries of the Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) to bring on board their sons for an all-inclusive economic empowerment and better families.
“It would be very unfortunate if our boys are left behind even as the women and the girl child continue getting empowerment. Let everyone have an equal opportunity including the men since this is how successful families are developed for better communities and the nation at large,” said the CS.
Professor Kobia who was presiding over the release of shs 13.8 million by the WEF to Tharaka Nithi women in a Chuka resort yesterday, further called on the officers of the fund to encourage new beneficiaries to learn from the experiences of successful ones for better results.
“Let’s not let the women entering the business world struggle with the trial and error methods when there is a huge wealth of knowledge from their successful predecessors which can be harnessed through sharing of experiences in forums,” said the CS.
She said the issue with most women is not repayment of loans but access to finance and called on those present to be ambassadors to those left at the grassroots over the existence of the WEF and its new products that include a higher ceiling, asset financing and individual products.
Professor Kobia hailed the WEF Chief Executive Officer, his entire team and even the women for their excellent organization structures that have enabled the fund to be sustainable in a world where many corporate enterprises have collapsed along the way.
She said the WEF has empowered many women hence giving them a voice in shaping the quality of life not only for themselves but their families, the community and the nation at large.
The CS called on the beneficiaries of the WEF to be good ambassadors of what the government is doing to alleviate poverty among its citizens and the president’s wish for unity, peace and prosperity which cannot be achieved among a poverty stricken citizenly.
She said a woman with money in her pockets cannot succumb to irrelevant pressures such as retrogressive cultural practices and WEF is going a long way to achieve this end by releasing 300 million every month which translates to about 6 million to each constituency in the country.
By David Mutwiri
