Does the implication that Kenyan small and medium enterprises are headed for better times seem to be doomed and who is to blame? Or still, could it be a campaign strategy for the coming elections?
In his budget speech, Minister Githae affirmed the Government’s recognition of the catalytic role played by the small and medium size businesses in efforts to turn the country into a middle level income as envisaged in the national blueprint Vision 2030, and promised to create a conducive business environment for such ventures.
“In the continued recognition of the catalytic role of small and medium size business, the Government will deepen business regulatory reforms, enhance access to credit, facilitate capacity building and extend preferential treatment in public tenders to accelerate their growth,” said Mr. Githae.
He added that regulatory requirements for the SME sector will be simplified in order to amplify its multi-effect on employment opportunities for economic growth. “We are also strengthening the legislative framework to further create predictable and enabling business environment. In this regard, the Government will be tabling shortly all outstanding business enabling bills,” said Mr. Githae.
The bills are seeking to remove lengthy and bureaucratic processes of registering and running a business in Kenya. “We will implement measures to improve electronic filing of documents at the lands registry, the companies’ registry and other key agencies involved in business registration. All these efforts should reduce the cost of doing business and improve Kenya’s rating on doing business index, thus positioning our country as a preferred investment destination,” said Mr. Githae.
Another key winning by the SMEs sector is the proposal to create a new framework that will help small and medium enterprises raise capital through the Nairobi Stock Exchange. “For a long time, the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has been used by fairly large companies to access capital among other things. The high threshold in the law has denied SMEs the opportunity to access the long term and relatively cheap capital as well as raising their profiles through participation. I propose to amend the law to create a framework for Growth Enterprise Market Segment within the NSE targeting small and medium Enterprises.”
One thing is obvious, something has really gone amiss and somebody is playing with our minds, our leaders need to look back at their promises and consider the vision of our country if Kenya is going to grow.
