ENABLIS Funds First Entrepreneur in Kenya …Kes20 Million Loan

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Enablis Entrepreneurial Network East Africa today announced the first loan disbursement of KES 20 Million to a Kenyan entrepreneur through its Loan Guarantee Program with Chase Bank.

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Moses Mwaura, Regional director Enablis East Africa (Left) congratulates Mr. Athanas Matheka.

Speaking of the occasion, Enablis Africa CEO, Sally Moodley said, “This is another critical milestone for the Enablis network of more than 1,000 entrepreneurs in Africa. Our Enablis entrepreneurs in Kenya are now able to access loans from Chase Bank with Enablis providing the necessary guarantee, in partnership with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), that allows the Bank to consider the entrepreneurs’ applications favorably.”

Enablis, a public-private partnership, operates at the grass-roots level and is dedicated to delivering to its member entrepreneurs key business enablers like capacity building support, business management training, mentorship, networking opportunities, and access to finance. Enablis loan funding partners in East Africa include Chase Bank in Kenya and National Microfinance Bank PLC (NMB) in Tanzania.

Enablis member Athanas Matheka, the entrepreneur recipient of this KES 20 Million loan, is the owner of Greenforest Foods Ltd (GFL). GFL deals in refining, bottling and marketing of high quality pure natural honey. Greenforest Honey is a leading brand sold through all the major supermarket chains.

The funding will be used for expansion of the business into processing and marketing of edible nuts, and growth of the honey market regionally. While receiving the funds, Mr. Matheka said,

“With this facility, I will expand my business and create direct employment through additional staff, and indirect employment for the farmers and other suppliers from whom I will source materials. Clearly, access to this level of funding made possible by the Enablis guarantee and the Chase Bank facility will transform my business and contribute to poverty alleviation. I am extremely thankful to Enablis and the Government of Canada who made all this possible and to Chase Bank for a wonderful new relationship.”

Moses Mwaura, Regional Director, Enablis East Africa, commented, “This Loan Guarantee Program gives us the ability to fulfill our mandate of providing support to entrepreneurs in all spheres of their businesses. It also allows us to make a substantial difference to the sustainability of Kenyan entrepreneurs in terms of skills development, networking opportunities and finally access to finance.”

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Comments

  • There is a light in the end of the tunnel for our SMEs in the country with more focus now on the SMEs and the way more ideas are being developed here in Kenya. Remember the USD1M that was a grant for the Nokia developer and here now the enablis, wow great opportunities

    SME Network November 20, 2010 11:37
  • The Enablis loan may be great but the application process is very very, too long and tedious in fact that it can be somewhat discouraging. My friend has been applying for the last 8 months! But I guess if you go through it and succeed then getting a loan from a bank becomes a walk in the park because they are very thorough. So I guess that it's a great experience in the end. Good for Athanas, i met him once at an Enablis workshop; he does have a great business model going.

    Lilian November 23, 2010 07:05
  • I attended a breakfast meeting with the Virtual City staffs , the company which won the Nokia $1M and i think they have great plans for the future . There is need for the current SMEs to succeed in order to encourage the new entrepreneurs to emerge in future.

    kachwanya November 23, 2010 07:45
  • I must say that somehow I also got discouraged from applying due to the lengthy process. But at the end it makes sense, committing money to a given venture or business requires careful consideration and vetting process. What they are doing is understandable

    kachwanya November 23, 2010 07:57
  • How do I get in touch with officials from Enablis?

    Leonard Masila March 17, 2011 14:10
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