• Kenya has invited German businessmen to invest in the country’s micro, small and medium-sized enterprises
  • President William Ruto said the country stands to benefit from the world’s most experienced, organised and resourced German establishments
  • Food processing, the digital economy, and intellectual property rights, among others, are some of the potential areas Germans want to invest in

Kenya has invited German businessmen to invest in the country’s micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

Speaking on Monday, 27 March, 2023, Kenya’s President William Ruto said the country stands to benefit from the world’s most experienced, organised and resourced German establishments.

Dr Ruto noted that the sector is the backbone of the German economy, generating more than 60% of employment opportunities.

Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda

He was speaking in Potsdamer Platz in Berlin when he met Dr Markus Jerger, the Chairman of Der Mittelstand-German Association of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW).

According to Dr Jerger, BVMW represents the interests of more than 3.3 million individual enterprises in the country.

The President noted that the Government is committed — under its Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda — to supporting small enterprises to blossom.

“That is why we have put more than Sh50 Billion in the Hustler Fund to provide affordable credit to millions of Kenyans who depend on the MSME sector for a living.”

He noted that so far, the uptake of the facility has been encouraging.

Dr Jerger noted that there are huge opportunities “for us in Kenya’s value addition programme”.

“We can invest in cold storage technology to reduce post-harvest losses. We are already doing it in Senegal,” he said.

Later, the President held talks with the Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade (BWA) led by its Chairman Michael Schumann and agreed on the approaches to bringing more German and international businesses to Kenya.

The Association cited food processing, the digital economy, and intellectual property rights, among others, as some of the potential areas to invest in.

Small-scale sellers optimistic about the stability of Kenya’s economy

In a related story, The Exchange Africa recently reported that small-scale sellers in Kenya are optimistic that the business environment will remain stable in 2023.

Photo of a businesswoman. Photo: Unsplash.

A finding by online marketplace Airduka conducted in January 2023 found that 75% of small-scale sellers expect the trading environment to be calm over the next twelve months now that risks associated with threats such as COVID-19 and the general elections have settled.

Airduka surveyed a section of sellers listed in its online marketplace to gather the data. Those sampled are sellers of different products and services, including but not limited to electronics, fashion, gaming, health and beauty, books and arts.

As per the finding, 60% of sellers said they expect their revenues to remain steady in the first half of the year, with growth expected in the second half. However, 20% said they expect revenues to drop in the first half, but recover and increase in the second half. The rest remained uncertain.

At the same time, 65% of sampled sellers said they expected demand for their products to remain steady in the first half of the year but grow in the second half. 20% of small-scale sellers said they expect growth starting this January and possibly last throughout the year. However, 15% of respondents said they were uncertain.

Commenting on the finding, Airduka CEO Abdul Varvany said most sellers were keen on increasing their marketing efforts to grow the demand for their products and maximise revenues.

“The good thing is that small-scale sellers are confident about the business environment and are ready to invest into their businesses this year,” he said.

Other factors sellers said would make the business environment conducive in 2023 were favourable weather conditions and rising demand for goods and services across the economy.

However, 70% of small-scale sellers said they were still worried about the impact of inflation on their businesses.

“Even though the rate of inflation seems to have been softening over the three months, sellers are still worried that they could see a repeat of last year. The cost of fuel and food seems to be amongst their highest worries.”

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Wanjiku Njuguna is a Kenyan-based business reporter with experience of more than eight years.

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