The Kenya Climate Innovation Centre (KCIC) has today held a virtual training ahead of the awarding of the Result Based Financing (RBF) and Proof of Concept Grants (POC) to 49 youth and women led enterprises under the Agribiz program which is funded by both the European Union and DANIDA.
The training session, chaired by Edward Mungai, C.E.O of KCIC, mainly focused on the benefits of receiving the awards, other funding initiatives by KCIC and specific requirements from the SMEs for future financial awards.
During the training, Edward Mungai said, “the Agribiz program is a platform that will enable such qualified innovations to continue playing a crucial role in investment, growth, innovation and employment, even as the effects of climate change continue to grow.”
The Agribiz program was rolled out through a central hub with 195 enterprises comprising 80 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), 77 early stage enterprises and 38 community based organizations/self-help groups.
“For its first cohort, KCIC with the assistance of Kenya Climate Ventures(KCV) undertook a gap analysis and selected 49 youth and women-led enterprises deemed qualified based on their great potential to come up with sustainable and innovative ways to boost agricultural production,” said Victor Ndiege, CEO, KCV.
He also added that the qualified enterprises managed to also score highly against all on boarded clients on a clear scoring system which was approved through the Kenya Climate Ventures financing operational policy guidelines.
In addition to the financial awards, the 49 enterprises will also be receiving technical support and guidance from eight business analysts, specifically brought on board to aid with the program implementation.
“With the support of the eight business analysts, the qualified enterprises will receive support on their portfolios through assessment analysis, identifying gaps in their businesses and developing work plans for implementation during the incubation period,” said Makena Mworia, the Director, Client Services, KCIC.
