The County Government of Kilifi through the Kilifi County Micro-Finance Initiative (Mbegu Fund) Tuesday handed over Sh60 million cheques to 456 groups and one Cooperative society to boost local economy.
Mbegu Fund has seen 1,700 groups and cooperatives benefit with a total of Sh268 million since the inception of the initiative that is meant to improve the living standards of area residents.
Presiding over the issuance of the cheques at the County Government Offices yesterday, Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi lauded the groups for embracing the initiative saying that his office was impressed and motivated to add more funds to groups in order to eradicate poverty in the area.
“We started off with Sh40 million and today we are disbursing Sh60million to your groups. Your support for this initiative is what will motivate us to add you more money. If we continue receiving more testimonies about how much you have benefitted from this money, then we will definitely add more funds,” Kingi told the Mbegu Fund groups representatives.
He said the dependency ratio has reduced in the county since the initiative was launched: “Today, women who used to come to my home and homes of other leaders very early in the morning asking for school fees are no longer coming because they are now able to raise the school fees money through Mbegu Fund,” he said.
“There’s nothing as shameful as a parent going to a leader’s home only to stay there for more than 5 hours because their children have been sent home to collect school fees,” Kingi said.
Kilifi County Government set aside Sh116 million for the Mbegu Fund in 2021/2022 financial year. The beneficiaries commended the Initiative for having transformed their lives and many others in the County.
“As a beneficiary of the Mbegu Fund, I must say that this Initiative has uplifted our lives and boosted our economy. Before the Mbegu Fund we depended on begging people including politicians. Right now, this initiative has not only been able to improve our lives but also given us the opportunity to create employment to the youths in the county,” said a beneficiary.
“We the Mbegu Fund beneficiaries celebrate this initiative for changing our lives. As a woman, I feel so empowered being independent unlike sometimes back when I could go around asking and borrowing money from friends. I urge individuals in Kilifi County to form groups and join the Mbegu Fund in order to benefit in the same way,” said Risper Ngala, another beneficiary.
The Mbegu Fund Initiative was launched to advance interest-free loans to groups, enterprises and co-operatives in Kilifi County to facilitate their growth.
By Treeza Auma and Harrison Yeri
