Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) has launched a loan programme for women in 11 counties in Kenya.

Development Diaries reports that women-owned small businesses are expected to access funding to grow and boost their ventures.

It is understood that the programme is designed to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Kenya’s coastal and lake regions.

Business women from Kwale, Mombasa, Kilifi, Tana River, Lamu, Taita Taveta, Migori, Siaya, Kisumu, Homabay, and Busia are set to benefit from the programme.

The programme focuses on businesses and initiatives in the farming and energy sector of the country as a strategy to help boost the country’s blue economy.

SMEs account for 40 percent of Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with at least 31.4 percent of SMEs owned by women.

Despite their contributions, women continue to face several challenges ranging from the lack of capital, insufficient business management skills, and work-life balance, to societal prejudice and biases.

In a statement, AECF’s Chief Executive, Victoria Sabula, noted that the programme aims to promote gender equality in Kenya’s blue economy.

‘To reduce systemic gender inequalities that impede women’s economic participation in Kenya’s Blue Economy, we need to discover and implement innovative ideas, business models, and technologies’, Sabula said.

‘Our programme aims to promote women’s access to funding, technical support, and business development opportunities, thereby ensuring equal access to opportunities in the blue economy sector’.

SMEs play a key role in Kenya’s economic development and job creation as 80 percent of the jobs created in 2014 were dominated by these enterprises.

Photo source: Hand in Hand International