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{
    "id": 1564684,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1564684/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 63,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Wycliffe Oparanya",
    "speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Co-operatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "accord the highest scorers a soft collateral that will unlock for them access to enhancing financing. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with respect to women, everybody agrees that they are good borrowers and even the banks will tell you as much. However, the good borrowing attributes to women has not found its way to the banks to accord them a preferential access to financing. Our women, regardless of their demonstration of good behaviour, are still subjected to hard collateral such as land title deeds, pay slips and properties, which most have no reach. The Hustler Fund will, therefore, collateralize the good borrowing habit of women to inform their credit worthiness and eventually move to upgrade the market from fixation on hard collateral to soft behaviour, to deepen financial inclusion at the bottom of the economic pyramid and enable majority of our people to be served. A comprehensive socio-economic impact study is in the process to measure long- term effects. Plans to enhance the funds support to women include introducing dynamic loan limit lines to individual repayment behaviour and integrating savings and pension component to build long-term financial resilience among women borrowers. Moving to the next, women entrepreneurs in Kenya face several economic barriers in accessing financial resources, many of which stem from structural inequalities and systems challenges. Among the most prevalent barriers are lack of collateral due to limited asset ownership, limited access to formal financial history, low level of financial literacy and high costs associated with registering and formalizing business. Cultural and societal norms in some regions further restrict women’s participation in the enterprises. Informality remains a major issue as many women operate outside the formal financial systems, which limits their ability to access credit. The response to these economic barriers is as follows. The Ministry has employed a variety of strategies as follows: I have already mentioned about the Hustler Fund that has eliminated traditional requirements like collateral and history, offering loans based on mobile money profiles and repayment behaviour. It also promotes savings and requirement planning through embedded product features. Uwezo Fund supports women participation in local leadership and decision- making by ensuring their representation in the Fund committees and has advocated for simplified business registration process for single business permits. The Fund loan also emphasises capacity building to improve women’s readiness for entrepreneurship and market participation. The Kenya Industrial Estates (KIE) has introduced group guarantee loans using social collateral, allowing women without assets to access credit through mutual trust within groups. The KIE also provides affordable credits with flexible repayment terms and supports mentorship, coaching and exposures to strengthened business acumen. The Micro and Small Enterprise Authority (MSEA) provides direct grants incubation in Constituency Industrial Development Centres (CIDCs), value chain integration and technical training. The proposed establishment of Women in Business Unit within MSEA is a major policy shift aimed at institutionalizing support for women, The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}