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{
    "id": 102936,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/102936/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 79,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "be distributing to schools throughout the country, as well as to take advantage of the huge investment that the Government of Kenya continues to make in ICT infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, Sir, access to credit has often emerged as a top constraint to the growth of SMEs. Through this Budget, we are introducing an innovative approach leveraging on existing frameworks and ICT platforms to expand access to credit for the majority of our hard working young brothers and sisters. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as a country we have about 8.3 million of our people working in the informal sector of whom two million are in the Jua Kali industry, about five million are kiosk owners, hawkers, mama mbogas and those in the informal transport sector. Empowering this group to access financial services that allows them to make bank deposits, to save and to earn interest on their savings, to have access to credit that could enable them to start and expand their businesses has the potential to significantly reduce the twin problem of unemployment and poverty. As a bold step towards addressing youth unemployment and encouraging the growth of SMEs, as a key driver of growth of development, I propose to establish a revolving fund of Kshs3.8 billion through which the Government will enter into a credit facility agreement with selected banks to support Small and Medium Term Enterprises (SMEs). Out of this amount, Kshs3 billion will be advanced to banks in the form of credit for onward lending to SMEs through their agencies. The balance of Kshs800 million will be earmarked for capacity building to ensure effectiveness of the institutions and agencies involved in the programme and the training of beneficiaries to effectively manage their businesses. This is a framework that has proven successful and we believe that we can leverage on ICT to scale it up for the benefit of many Kenyans and especially our youth. Mr. Speaker, Sir, a number of microfinance institutions have also expressed willingness to partner with the Government in this noble endeavour. I expect, through this partnership, that banks will match Kshs5 for every Kshs1 invested by the Government, thus expanding the Fund five fold to at least Kshs15 billion which will be available for lending to youth and enterprises through our financial institutions. The establishment of this Fund recognises that commerce and trade are the lubricants that oil the wheels of the economy. For a country to progress in its endeavours to reduce poverty and create jobs and spur inclusive and sustainable growth, it must provide all players, formal and informal, an enabling environment to make their contribution towards nation building. This Fund will, among other things, be used to build, nurture and fund youth talents and viable entrepreneurships with the highest impact to create employment and reduce poverty. It will also allow for many informal traders to take loans for their businesses and for those of our hard working brothers and sisters in the informal sector, it will enable them to access loans to construct modern and standard kiosks in designated areas in order to earn a decent living and improve their household welfare through selling of their wares. Mr. Speaker, Sir, to ensure effective and faster disbursement of funds to as many youth and business people as possible, we shall leverage on ICT and M- Banking to target 11 million Kenyans currently using money transfers. This will be rolled out to cover many of the 18 million or more Kenyans with mobile telephones as part of our efforts to broaden financial outreach and access. When all these people are included in our financial system it will be possible to introduce an expansion through M-Banking such products as micro insurance, pension payments, tax payments, and"
}