By Our Reporter
Various levies demanded by the government and its agencies are some of the major setbacks affecting the growth and subsequent lack of employment in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Thus, the government has been challenged to address the issue and collaborate with sector’s stakeholders for growth and creation of the much required employment opportunities.
The revelations were laid bare recently by one of the players; Optiven Real Estate during an SME summit.
Through the leading real estate firm Chief Executive Officer (CEO) George Wachiuri, more than 400 SME stakeholders produced statistics on the issues where, he disclosed that over the last 5 years, 2.2 million businesses had folded owing to challenges of doing business.
Wachiuri was selected by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance KEPSA to represent the hundreds of players with focus on what is happening on the ground and how the stakeholders can collaborate for mutual benefit.
The two-day 10th edition of the Annual SME conference and the expo took place at the Strathmore University’s Makadara campus where the over 400 owners of SMEs attended for a chart on areas of collaboration with the government and the best way forward.
President William Ruto was represented by two Cabinet Secretaries; Simon Chelugui who is in charge of Cooperatives and Enterprise and Moses Kuria of Trade.
The theme for the event was “promoting cooperatives for sustainable and inclusive SME development.”
The two Cabinet Secretaries lauded the Optiven Group for clearly presenting various challenges facing the sectors players.
In his presentation, Wachiuri further challenged the government on access to procurement businesses targeted to the SMEs which he noted were not easily available to them.
He observed that as a way forward, the government should remains vocal in advocating for local manufacturing and encouraging the masses to buy Kenya and build Kenya by relaxing the tax regulations related to the disbursement of funds under the Hustler Fund.
Responding to the submission by Wachiuri, C S Chelugui noted that the government is keen on facilitating and creating an environment for businesses to thrive.
He noted that the formation of two ministries by the government, to support the sector is a step towards achieving that objective.
Before the address, he earlier visited various exhibition stands, among them, Optiven’s lwhere he interacted with the staff and management present.
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Felix Njenga