Women-owned businesses make a significant contribution to the Kenyan economy, accounting for about 48 per cent of all Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs), with a contribution of around 20 per cent to Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Despite playing this critical role, women-owned businesses face several challenges, with many highlighting access to funding as a hindrance to their growth and expansion. It is against this backdrop that Strathmore University Business School partnered with the USAID Kenya Investment Mechanism to develop and deliver the Women Investor Readiness Programme, which aims to equip women entrepreneurs with skills to help them get their businesses investor-ready. The Programme further helps them build consumer-driven value chains and gain the competitive advantage to exploit value-adding opportunities.
The Programme comprises five days of classroom training sessions, after which the participants will go through business and pitch coaching for two months. These sessions will help them better understand pitching skills and learn how to develop investable pitch decks, and get linkage to business advisory service providers (BASPs) and investors.
By Juliet Hinga
