Business leaders and policymakers urge Kenya’s 7.4 million small enterprises to aim beyond survival
Principal Secretary for MSME Development Susan Mang'eni
The third annual KEPSA SME conference brought together over 1,500 delegates to confront the structural barriers choking Kenyan enterprise growth
By MKT Reporter
Kenya’s most influential public and private sector voices converged in Nairobi on Thursday with a single, urgent message for the country’s 7.4 million micro, small and medium enterprises: survival is no longer enough.
The third annual SME Conference, Awards and Exhibition, hosted by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) at All Saints Cathedral Auditorium, drew more than 1,500 delegates under the theme “Beyond Survival: Building Smart and Resilient Businesses.” Over two days, policymakers, financiers, development partners and entrepreneurs wrestled with the structural barriers — scarce credit, regulatory friction, limited market access — that continue to constrain enterprises which collectively employ roughly 15 million Kenyans and contribute an estimated 40 percent of gross domestic product.
The government signalled it was prepared to act. Speaking on behalf of Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya, Principal Secretary for MSME Development Susan Mang’eni announced a package of interventions designed to move local enterprises into regional competitiveness, anchored by the World Bank-partnered Kenya Jobs and Economic Transformation project. Mang’eni also called on established corporate leaders to mentor entrepreneurs developed through state programmes such as NYOTA.
“Formalisation should be a pathway to opportunity, supported by flexible policies, appropriate taxation and incentives that enable businesses to grow,” she said.
KEPSA chief executive Carole Kariuki reinforced that message, pointing to the alliance’s nationwide programmes — among them the Ajira Digital Programme, the Kenya AI Skilling Alliance, and the MSME Financing Gateway — as evidence that enterprise support had moved beyond isolated gestures toward the construction of functioning ecosystems across all 47 counties.
“We are building ecosystems where access to finance, market opportunities, skills and enterprise support reinforce one another to help businesses grow,” Kariuki said.
Mary Ngechu, KEPSA’s director for SMEs and start-ups, outlined what delegates could expect in practical terms: strategic masterclasses, digital exhibition catalogues, business advisory clinics, and an awards programme designed to surface and celebrate entrepreneurs solving real problems. “From the inaugural conference to this year’s edition, the vision has grown,” Ngechu said. “MSMEs are not just participants in the economy — they are the economy.”
The financing dimension drew some of the sharpest attention. Equity Bank commercial director Kagiso Moloi placed a number on the problem — a KSh3 trillion MSME funding gap — and outlined how the bank intended to close part of it. Moloi said Equity accounted for 37 percent of MSME lending reported by the Kenya Bankers Association in the first quarter of 2026, and introduced unsecured working capital and local purchase order financing of up to KSh10 million per borrower, alongside port duty financing aimed at preventing supply chain delays.
“Finance alone is not enough,” Moloi cautioned. “MSMEs need access to markets, technology and the right partnerships to grow. Our role is to connect these threads so that when a business is ready, everything is aligned to help it move from survival to sustainable growth.”
Victor Oteku, country representative for the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Kenya office, used his address to press for an enabling regulatory environment built on social market economy principles — one that encourages voluntary formalisation, widens access to affordable finance, and supports the adoption of emerging technologies including artificial intelligence.
“MSMEs are creating livelihoods and offering hope to millions of young people and women,” Oteku said. “We must build enterprises resilient enough to withstand uncertainty and contribute to a stronger economy and society.”
The conference’s centrepiece is Friday’s third annual SME Awards, which will recognise 18 entrepreneurs across six innovation excellence categories — among them the Imara, Malkia, Binti Chipukizi and Biashara Green Innovation Awards — alongside eleven ecosystem enablers whose work in market access, innovation, sustainability and incubation has materially advanced MSME growth across Kenya.
The stakes of all of this are not abstract. Behind every statistic about GDP contribution and employment figures is a business owner navigating price shocks, bureaucratic friction and credit markets that too often turn them away. The collective ambition of Thursday’s gathering was that, by Friday evening, fewer of those owners would have to navigate those challenges alone.
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