Browsing: SMEs

SMBs share a similar technology adoption trend to SACCOs exposing them to Cybersecurity threats that are detrimental to their growing business.
Speaking during the launch of a cyber security sensitisation campaign, Dimension Data East and West Head of Managed Security Services Dr. Bright Mawudor said there’s a looming misconception that threat actors are only focusing on large enterprises yet small businesses equally possess sensitive data that is lucrative to attackers.…

• Kiva will oversee the disbursement of the low-interest loans to help SMEs
• Last week Google announced a plan to invest $1billion over 5 years to support Africa’s digital transformation

Google Kenya has announced a disbursement of $10 million to support the economic recovery of small and medium enterprises across Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, and Nigeria during their virtual Google Kenya event.

A non-profit organisation, Kiva, will oversee the disbursement of the low-interest loans to help the SMEs get through the economic hardship created by COVID-19.

This follows the announcement made at the Google for Africa event last week where CEO of Google and Alphabet, Sundar Pichai, announced the plan to invest $1billion over 5 years to support Africa’s digital transformation.

The investment is expected to focus on enabling fast, affordable internet access for more Africans; building helpful products; supporting entrepreneurship and small business; and helping non-profits to improve lives across …

At the same time, KEPSA said the initiative will provide a unique platform to facilitate U.S. and Kenyan SME partnerships.

It will also help in supporting women and youth to run Kenyan entrepreneurs as well as U.S. women, minority, and diaspora owned businesses, and help SMEs in both countries address the current challenges many faces to access the two markets.

The agreement was signed by CCA President & CEO Florizelle Liser and KEPSA CEO Carole Kariuki and witnessed by President Uhuru Kenyatta in New York, U.S.A.…

The programme has so far managed to bring on board at least eight companies, such as Selcom Paytech Limited, Techno Image Ltd, AKM Glitters Company, financial institutions such as FINCA Microfinance, Victoria Finance PLC, AML Finance and Reni International Company Limited.

Endeleza which is also a Swahili literal term for “prolong” has been fitted with an ultimate objective which is qualifying SMEs with access to potential private capital from investors and financiers and other actors across the line such as angel investors, venture capital funds, private equity funds, banks and other financial institutions.…

The Ghana.gov platform also serves the digitization and revenue-collection needs of other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs)

As of mid-July, 2021, about 624,000 users have logged in to pay for 37 government services, comprising taxes, levies, royalties and stamp duties, directly into Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) accounts. …

Small and Medium Enterprises in the region recognize the potential of working with public-private partnerships, and 63 percent of them think private sector initiatives and partnerships will benefit businesses and the markets in which they operate.

This has been revealed in a study conducted by Mastercard dubbed MEA SME Confidence Index.

The study also reveals that one in three SMEs or 32 percent think that collaborating with governments and businesses outside their markets could impact their growth. In Southern Africa this was especially pronounced, with over half at 56 percent agreeing.

The research also highlights the important role of government support in helping small and medium enterprises across the region to recover, position for growth, and contribute to economic prosperity.

As such, government support and implementation of effective policies has been highlighted as important by 88 percent of the region’s SMEs, 50 percent of which rated this point as a …

Women-owned and led SMEs (WSMEs) in Kenya face structural barriers that limit their ability to secure contracts with large companies for growth.

This is according to an IFC study published today that recommends ways banks and large businesses can better support female entrepreneurs.

The study was commissioned as part of IFC’s wider efforts to connect women entrepreneurs to new markets and is titled Sourcing2Equal Kenya: Barriers and Approaches to Increase Access to Markets for Women-Owned Businesses.

It found that women-owned businesses face challenges accessing finance, business networks, and market information, hence limiting their ability to take on large contracts.

The study found that there is a 9 percent gender gap in the participation of SMEs supplying directly to corporate Buyers, commonly known as tier 1 suppliers, with WSMEs receiving fewer contracts among the SME respondents in this study.

However the survey indicates that there is 13 percent more WSMEs than …

The small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) sector is one important contributor to Tanzania’s long-term development agenda. 

This East African nation has been on a journey towards becoming a middle-income country with the economy growing by an average of 6.5 per cent per year in the last decade, going by estimates from the World Bank and other institutions.  

There are an estimated three million enterprises in Tanzania’s SME sector which contribute 27 per cent of the overall GDP according to the Tanzania Development Vision (TDV) 2025.…

The MPA outlines proposals to support robust economic and manufacturing sector recovery, consistent with the government’s post-Covid-19 recovery strategy. The Priority Agenda highlights the importance of a competitive local manufacturing sector.
With the globalization of world economies, it is impossible to insulate production or demand from global competition and changes. As such, manufacturers in Kenya must battle it out with formidable competitors such as China, India, Egypt, and South Africa. Improving regulatory efficiency, promoting access to quality, affordable and reliable energy, reducing transport and logistics costs, and enhancing cash flow for manufacturers will drive our competitiveness.…

Small business enterprises in Egypt wishing to transact business with Amazon Payment Services, a payment processing service in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, have all reasons to do so after the Service provider announced that it will waive all fees for the new businesses.

This latest move is in line with Amazon Payment Services’ mission of providing business with simple, affordable and trusted online payment experiences.

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It is a support initiative undertaken by the Amazon payment services in line with an initiative launched by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) of encouraging the transition to digital payments in Egypt.

This has seen Amazon Payment Services waiving all account setup and maintenance fees for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) for its digital payment service throughout the month of Ramadan until the end of June 2021.

To implement …