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{
    "id": 976540,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/976540/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 302,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kiharu, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ndindi Nyoro",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13370,
        "legal_name": "Samson Ndindi Nyoro",
        "slug": "samson-ndindi-nyoro"
    },
    "content": "I also want to talk about start-ups. The three funds that we have and even our commercial banks target businesses that are already going concerns and business that are already solid. This is because as the Englishman says, the bank is the institution that lends you an umbrella when the sun is up and recalls the umbrella when it starts raining. Even our commercial banks are the same. They only lend to you if they are sure that you will give back the money and if eventually you are able to give back the money, it then means you do not actually need the money. I am borrowing that from a country like Israel that many economists call a start-up nation. In Israel, we have a similar fund. The only difference is that for Israel, this kind of fund is targeted to seed capital, start-ups and people with ingenuity and ideas that could later be commercialised to become big businesses. That is why we also need to empower those three funds to not just target going concerns and table banking where they are giving groups money which they lend to themselves and then they pay back, but we also need to target production and ideas. If you look at the inception of the Silicon Valley, it was a convergence of three main things. The Silicon Valley that we know now was a convergence of a policy that was called STEM that was promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and also the convergence of Stanford University but, more importantly, the funding that was coming from venture capital and private equity. I think that is the gap that we are lacking in this country where, for you to be funded, you only have to go to commercial institutions which are usually commercial banks. For commercial banks to lend you, you need a back-up of years that you have operated on profitability. In that manner, that is why we find so many youths in this country with brilliant ideas in tech, production and value addition, but they can hardly get any financing from any institution because the institutions first check security and the history of the people who they lend to. There are also other operational matters that we must confront as this House. This Thursday, I will be having a meeting with my Uwezo Fund Committee. Unfortunately, those people work pro bono or for free. They are not paid anything. They only have big titles of Uwezo Fund chairman and Uwezo Fund committee members. But those people do work for free. Actually, I would categorise them with another category of people I met today in my constituency of Nyumba Kumi and village elders; people who are working tirelessly for this Government, but they get nothing in return. We must do something to empower the administration side of Uwezo Fund so that we can also have them enjoying their work and being facilitated. As I come to a close, we also need to have a segment as a Government within those funds for grants. We only give loans but I think as a way of supporting those groups, we need a reward system where we can give an amount of money to the groups that are performing very well as grants or money that cannot be returned to support their enterprise and to support what they do with the money they borrow and also to encourage others to repay when they borrow. With those many remarks, I support the Motion."
}