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Nairobi, May 26, 2009

President Mwai Kibaki unveils a plaque to officially launch the Women Enterprise Fund at Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC), Nairobi.

The Government is set to increase the total budgetary allocation for the revolving Women Enterprise Fund to an impressive 1.7 billion shillings, President Mwai Kibaki has said.

Speaking today at Kenyatta International Conference Centre when he officially launched the Women Enterprise Fund, President Kibaki said the Government proposes to allocate more resources for onward lending to women.

“In this regard an additional 500 million shillings will be allocated in the coming financial year, to boost the Women Enterprise Fund,” President Kibaki said.

The President, therefore urged women to take advantage of these and other Government efforts in order to realize their full potential.

President Kibaki, at the same time, reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to implementing the women employment affirmative action.

“This is intended to ensure that at least 30 per cent of new employees recruited into the public service are women,” President Kibaki said.

Given the good loan repayment by women, the Head of State appealed to the private sector and development partners to leverage the resources allocated to the fund to enable more women access credit.

“This will be in line with the Youth Enterprise Fund that is also attracting support from our local banks who have provided additional funds for onward lending to the youth of Kenya ,” the President said.

He also appealed to established big businesses, parastatals and learning institutions to support budding women and youth enterprises and asked local schools, colleges, universities and Government Ministries to give special consideration in support of women enterprises by buying their supplies.

On his part, President Kibaki said the Government will continue to improve the business environment by, among other things, boosting security, improving infrastructure and simplifying business permit requirements.

Stressing that sustainable development cannot be achieved in an environment where a large section of the women population is excluded from the financial sector, the President expressed confidence that the fund will go a long way in empowering women and redressing gender inequalities.

Said the President: “The launch of the Women Enterprise Fund, which we initiated one and half years ago, marks an important milestone in our efforts towards addressing gender related economic imbalances in our society.”

President Kibaki said women play a critical role in national development as they constitute over 50 per cent of the country’s total population and make up the majority of the work force in the agricultural sector which remains the backbone of the country’s economy.

Noting that majority of the 39 per cent of the Kenyan population without access to financial services are women, the President said it is for this reason that his Government initiated the Women Enterprise Fund to serve as an alternative source of finance for women who cannot easily access the formal financial sector.

In addition to providing subsidised credit for business start-up and expansion, President Kibaki said the Government expects part of the fund to be used in building an enterprise culture among women.

Similarly, the President said, the fund will also facilitate business women to access markets for their products, help women enterprises to develop linkages with big enterprises and develop the necessary infrastructure to support women run businesses.

He expressed satisfaction that the fund has registered commendable progress since its inception, noting that a total of Kshs 682 million has been disbursed in loans to 92,000 women across the country through micro finance institutions and the Constituency Women Enterprise Scheme.

“I am glad to note that through these loans, women have ventured into a wide variety of productive economic activities including dairy farming, goat rearing, cereals, posho mills, tree seedlings, day-care centres, beads and carvings, brick making and retail trade, among others,” the President said.

President Kibaki said it was also encouraging that women economic activities have triggered positive multiplier effects, saying women enterprises have not only created jobs for themselves but also for many other Kenyans.

Said the President: “Moreover, an increase in disposable incomes for women means better nutrition for their families, as well as better clothing, healthcare and education.”

The President pointed out that by empowering women financially, the fund will also be strengthening women’s voices and bargaining power within the home, the wider community and nation at large.

President Kibaki expressed confidence that the country’s economy would recover in the near future and called on Kenyans to bear the current worldwide economic downturn.

Earlier the President toured an exhibition mounted within the KICC grounds by various financial institutions showcasing various services offered.

Speaking during the same occasion Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka thanked President Kibaki for his visionary leadership and commitment to build an equitable prosperous nation through comprehensive programmes like the Women Enterprise Fund.

The Vice-President noted that women financial empowerment was panacea to a stable society as evidenced in the saying that educating a woman is equal to educating a whole society.

On her part Gender, Children and Social Development Minister, Esther Murugi termed the occasion historic because it showed deliberate effort by the Government to tap and exploit the potential of women in nation building.

The Gender Minister said that the women fund had tremendously transformed the lives of women, their families and the nation at large and appealed to the government to consider allocating adequate funds to reach more members of women population.

Hon Murugi promised to initiate the creation of buffer zones to always cushion women against adverse economic effects and also to ensure that more women acquire financial management skills to break out of the financial dependency cycle.

In attendance were Public Service Minister Dalmas Otieno, Heritage Minister William Ole Ntimama, Head of Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Amb Francis Muthaura, representatives of the diplomatic corps among other senior public and private sector officials.