Kenya Private Sector and Partners Launch SME Xpo 2016

SME’s in the region usually face an uphill task to grow looking at the constraints in infrastructure, finance and the difference in tax contribution between them and corp orates. It’s quite a journey that an SME will take to grow even though they make nearly 90% of businesses in the region with corporates making the 10%.

Looking at the challenges SME’s face KEPSA and other partners launched the SME Fest 2016 that is set to take place from April 7-9th at KICC. The Event’s Director Dorcas Muthoni noted that the expo will be different as it will encompass business to business trade contrary to others than were focused on product promotion.

“SMEs provide 45 per cent of the country’s employment, 50 per cent of work force and Sh1.4 trillion to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). If we are to make a strong impact in economic growth, then SMEs have to be the priority,” said Kepsa Director Patricia Ithua during the launch, reports the Standard.

Ithau said the SME expo 2016 will give SMEs an opportunity to learn how to deal with the said challenges from the big corporates which at one point were small businesses: “The gap is too wide yet SMEs seem to be the largest contributors to development. We need to scale them up (SMEs) to corporates and finally multinationals.”

Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry boss Matanda Wabuyele who leads 20,000 businesses(75 per cent being SMEs)  said the country’s vision is to have SMEs contribute 50 per cent of GDP by 2020 by promoting intra Africa trade to have them access regional markets.

SME XPO 2016 Expected Outcomes

• Revenue growth for participating businesses
• New dealer and distributor trade partnerships
• Best managed businesses