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{
"id": 1498057,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1498057/?format=api",
"text_counter": 217,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Thika Town, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Alice Ng’ang’a",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. This is the response to a statement sought by the Member for Aldai Constituency, Hon. Marianne Kitany, regarding the disbursement of the Women Enterprise Fund (WEF). In her request, she raised two questions. The first question was on the rationale behind reducing the borrowing limit especially considering the Fund expanded resources, and the fact that it specifically targets women groups. The second question was on the measures that are being put in place to ensure that the Women Enterprise Fund remains an effective tool for supporting women entrepreneurs. I wish to respond as follows: The Fund introduced digital loan and savings products on the 1st July 2023. The product targets a group of 10 to 30 women. The loan is offered through a digital platform by dialling *254#. Upon compliance with the terms and conditions, the turnaround time is instant. The group can access the WEF group through two processes: 1. Dial USSD *254# and select Women Enterprise Fund; and, 2. M-PESA App, then Grow tab, then select Financial Inclusion, Mini-app, under development. During the pilot phase between 1st July 2023 and 16th September 2023, the Fund disbursed Ksh941,901,505 to 18,955 women groups with Ksh257,464,445, being repaid as of 31st May 2024. Only first cycle of Ksh50,000 was activated for the pilot phase to allow the Fund to monitor the trends to inform rollout of the rest of the borrowing amount. From the trends, the loan demand under digital is many times higher than the manual model, as evidenced by the near Ksh1 billion that was disbursed under the two months, thus putting extremely high pressure on the limited cash available for lending. This implies that with a bigger loan limit, only a few groups will benefit, and the resources are depleted. In policy, the Fund has approved bigger loan limits, but introducing them will need enhanced funding to the Fund to sustain cash flows and continued service to the women entrepreneurs. On the second question on measures that have been put in place to ensure that WEF remains an effective tool for supporting women entrepreneurs, I want to respond that the Fund is implementing several measures, key among them: 1. Improving financial sustainability. Financial sustainability is crucial for any organisation to continue offering services to its clients. To achieve sustainability, the Fund seeks to grow its value to Ksh10 billion by ensuring efficient management of operation costs. 2. Improving accessibility to loans by women entrepreneurs by re-engineering loan delivery channels. The agenda of the Government is to ensure an inclusive financial landscape. Fundamental to this are initiatives that enable the inclusion of women in the financial services. The Fund aims to expand financial access for 5 million women entrepreneurs in all parts of the country who are riding on digital platforms. Moreover, the Fund aims at diversifying the products and services to serve a wider market. 3. Enhancing financial and entrepreneurial skills for women entrepreneurs. The training for women Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) facilitates Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) expansion and enhances profitability, productivity and competitive advantage. The Fund will enhance capacity for 515,000 women entrepreneurs on entrepreneurship, financial literacy, value addition, Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) and business counselling. The Fund will channel out different training services on various platforms."
}