Young entrepreneurs have be urged to consider creating products and services while leveraging on technology to scale up and solve the critical challenges in the ecosystem.
Association of Startup and SMEs enablers of Kenya (ASSEK) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mercy Kimalat said in the year 2010, a lot of end-tech startups emerged as a result of the previous challenge that made the rural-urban people unable to access quality education.
The CEO, who was speaking during a policy roundtable forum organised by ASSEK to build an enabling environment for entrepreneurship ecosystem actors in Nairobi, noted that ASSEK supports a total of 150 entrepreneur organisations across the country serving entrepreneurs in different sectors.
“The members are working in the space of agriculture, biosciences and health, manufacturing, clean tech and the green economy,” she noted.
Kimalat at the same time noted that the innovation hubs currently in the country are referred to as entrepreneur support organisation since they not only support entrepreneurs on business innovation but also support them in getting access to markets, investments and talents needed in business to grow and thrive as entrepreneurs.
She lauded the emerging of the formation of mecha-spaces which allows any entrepreneur with an idea to build a hardware prototype that can be commercialised.
Kimalat observed that policy and advocacy is a critical pillar in the association as it is a macro factor that has to be collaborated at an ecosystem level to ensure that the right favourable policies like tax incentives, SMEs and startups operating in different economic zones where the benefits of infrastructure and technology are enjoyed by all.
She added that the association is looking on how to collaborate very closely with the government to help shape and design programmes that encourage enabling environment to attract external capital into the ecosystem.
“We have been able to facilitate more than five ecosystem dialogues and the reason why we do this, is because we want to be the convener of different stakeholders to discuss the pertinent issues that affect all sectors,” Kimalat said.
The CEO noted that if entrepreneurs do not have a favourable instrument that can attract investors and even startups, they will miss on the positioning within the global innovation ecosystem.
“We have managed to bring in different partners over the time and even recognised the partnership we have with the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry where we are looking at how to strengthen not only the innovation ecosystem but also how we can promote industrialisation,” she added.
In her remarks, the Policy and Government Strategy Board Member, Rachael Ndungu said that the economy is driven by the private sector entrepreneurship which is the core of the private sector.
“The purpose of this meeting is for us to engage each other and discuss policies and regulations that will support us, “she noted.
The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry has partnered with the ASSEK on the Kenya Industry and Entrepreneurship project (KIEP) which focuses on identifying constraints and supporting innovation and productivity growth in the country.
By Sharon Atieno and Gathigia Ng’aari
