By Elijah Odhiambo
Aspira Kenya, a subsidiary of Mauritius-based Cim Financial Services Group, has announced a Ksh3 million asset finance scheme for small enterprises.
The Aspira’s Bizna facility will lend money to businesses for a maximum of twenty-four months at a monthly interest rate of 2 percent.
Cim Financial Services Group CEO Mark Van Beuningen said Aspira has been a devoted to support of Kenyans ever since the company started doing business in the country. He noted that the introduction of the SME Bizna financing option in Kenya is a bigger and significant development made by the company.
“Since we launched our operations in Kenya, Aspira has been an ardent supporter of Kenyans, enabling access to funding for them to thrive. I am pleased to witness another milestone with the emergence of the SME Bizna financing offering in Kenya,” Group CEO Mark van Beuningen said.
The company promotes buy-now, pay-later transactions among customers.
Mark said the Bizna facility is well placed and will be opening up new opportunities to empower the underserved market with the essential resources SMEs need to thrive in an innovative environment.
“It is well poised and will be opening up new avenues to equip this underserved market with the necessary tools SMEs need to prosper in an innovative environment,” the CEO said.
The startup says it will facilitate real-time access to funding through prompt 48-hour decisions across a 200+ partner network to serve the qualifying customers.
The CEO highlighted that shouldering the SME sector is vital to safeguarding the current and future economic health of the Kenyan economy.
“In order to ensure a robust business environment for SMEs, we must unlock their access to funding”, Van Beuningen added.
This comes barely days after President William Ruto unveiled a remodeled Hustler Fund that allows small businesses and women to borrow money from the State-backed Hustler Fund to grow their enterprises.
Last month, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Kenya, in partnership with the State Department of Devolution and the Tony Elumelu Foundation, launched the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Seed Capital for Kenyan entrepreneurs to support the investors in growing their ideas into flourishing businesses.
It is estimated that the sector employs over 15 million people and contributes about 30 percent to the national value-added, according to the 2021 Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) MSME survey report.
The report further stated that based on enterprise characteristics, the main host sectors include trade and ICT that account for 59 percent of the MSMEs, agriculture, manufacturing, and construction.
It added that a sizeable proportion of MSMEs indicate that they are risk-averse, with
80 percent actively avoiding risk in their business operations. This feature is prevalent among female-owned enterprises.
