By Roy Hezron
Nairobi County Governor Johnson Sakaja is planning to allocate Ksh 4 billion to the Business and Hustler Opportunities sector over the next five years.
A huge chunk of the amount will be allocated for cheap credit and business financing.
According to the County’s draft of the 2023-2027 Integrated Development Plan, the proposed budget allocation of Ksh4,935,000,000 is specifically meant to provide an enabling environment for Micro , Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development in order to increase business growth opportunities for informal and formal MSMEs.
According to the plan, out of the proposed Ksh4 billion, Ksh 280 million will be used to establish trade financing institutional frameworks.
From the Ksh 280 million, Ksh 250 million will be used to establish trade revolving fund Board which will be cascaded to the ward level at an annual cost of Ksh 50 million while Ksh 30 million will be used to establish trade revolving fund regulations this year.
The county is planning to allocate a net total of Ksh 4.3 billion to increase access to affordable credit and finance. It targets to disburse a total of Ksh 4,250,000,000 over the next five years with a yearly disbursement of Ksh 850 million targeting a total of 6,364 loan beneficiaries at a cost of Ksh 50 million.
Further, the county targets to increase awareness of credit facilitation at a proposed budget of Ksh 250 million. It also plans to hold 20 public awareness campaigns over the next five years with four awareness campaigns to be carried out every year at a cost of Ksh 50 million.
Ksh 50 million will be used to increase financial support uptake; where the county plans to finance and develop a total of 1,850 business plans for the five year period with an annual financing of Ksh 10 million being set aside.
The Business and Hustler Opportunities sector is comprised of three sub sectors notably cooperatives, markets and trade, and business and hustler opportunities. The sector comprises of other eight technical directorates departments which include: trade and enterprise development, Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE) development, markets and trading services, trade licensing, weights and measures, betting and gaming, co-operative development and audit and liquor licensing.
The sector, which is headed by the County Executive Committee Member Ms. Rosemary Kariuki, was created to promote, coordinate and implement integrated socio-economic policies and programmes for a rapidly industrializing economy; promote Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the county, provide business counseling, advisory and consultancy services and provide capacity building programmes to indigenous MSMEs among others.
