The Chairperson of the Kenya Industrial Estate Board (KIE) Ms. Lilly Ng’ok has emphasised the pivotal role the entity is playing as a financial institution dedicated to nurturing women and young entrepreneurs in the country.
Ng’ok who spoke in Awendo Sub County-Migori during an entrepreneurs training forum that brought together businesspersons across Migori County acknowledged that the training aimed to enlighten and mentor entrepreneurs on how to improve and grow their Small and Medium scale Enterprises (SMEs).
She said that KIE was a financial institution offering loans with low interest to Kenyans strategically placed to ensure that micro small and medium enterprises are supported financially to improve and grow their businesses.
The official noted that one of their key mandates was value addition on products and services, affirming that there was no way the country could create jobs and wealth without embracing industrialisation and processing.
The official however challenged Migori entrepreneurs especially women and youth to apply for the KIE loan funds to empower themselves economically.
“In comparison with other counties in Nyanza, Migori is the lowest borrower of the KIE financial loan with only Sh11 million disbursed so far as compared to Kisii and Kisumu counties which have a lending borrowing of 69 and 45 Million respectively,” explained Ng’ok.
Awendo Sub County Assistant County Commissioner Tom Odhiambo commended the efforts by the KIE in sensitising the community on the importance of taking the loans the government was offering.
He called upon the Migori business community to embrace government loans like those being offered by the KIE, Women Enterprise Fund and hustler’s funds to grow their businesses.
The administrator however called upon the KIE to set up an operational office in the county to help reduce the transportation costs of travelling to the neighbouring counties of Homa Bay and Kisii to seeking for KIE services.
“One of the major impediments we are having in terms of accessing KIE loan funds in Migori is the lack of an operational KIE office within our county,” said Odhiambo.
Anne Akinyi, an entrepreneur from Awendo town appreciated the government’s mission and efforts in training and mentoring the business community through KIE.
Akinyi said that a lot of business community members have been prey to conmen masquerading as financial assistants only for them to become shylocks by exploiting their hard-earned profits.
Akinyi also called upon the KIE to establish a new office in Migori to enable them to access loan services to improve their small and medium enterprises for their social economic empowerment.
By Geoffrey Makokha
