This year will see us at KCIC implementing the first year of our new strategy which focuses the work of the center around three themes; incubation, finance and awareness creation of climate smart technologies. This will be implemented through the deliberate support of the private sector specially the small and medium enterprises that are looking at climate change as an opportunity.
The target for the center still remains in renewable energy, water management and agribusiness. These sectors have been viewed to have the potential of mitigating or adapting to climate change. The nature of support that we will be providing will be services such as business advisory, financing, access to information, provision of an enabling environment for clean tech business as well as the provision of facilities such as testing facilities, warehousing facility and hot desk facilities.
This year will see us implementing the cohort system of admission and service provision for the enterprises with an aim of working with close to thirty enterprises by the end of the year. This will see us moving away from the rolling basis of admission which we have been using for the last four years. This is aimed at strengthening the quality of services that we provide to the entrepreneurs and increasing the success rates due to focused service delivery.
With the endorsement of Agenda 2030 (SDG-sustainable development goals), KCIC will play a key role in 2017 especially in relation to goal number 13: climate action; Kenya is seeing first-hand the drastic effects of climate change. This is as a result of the rise in greenhouse gas emissions that are now more than 50 percent higher than 1990 levels. The country has also experienced changes in the climate system which can result into irreversible consequences if action is not taken. These actions will require the strengthening of the resilience and adaptive capacity of the country as well as providing more awareness on the subject. The Government will also require to integrate deliberate measures into national policies and strategies to be able to cope with the effects of climate change.
In 2016, The Kenya Government, enacted a climate change bill which is a starting point towards mainstreaming climate change in the laws of Kenya. Kenya Climate Innovation Center will play a major role working with the government as well as the private sector in delivering the targets of Goal number 13 of the SDGs. It is still possible, with the political will and a wide array of technological measures, to limit the increase in global mean temperature to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This requires urgent collective action.
On the broader issue of sustainability, the Center will kick start activities that will help SMEs integrate sustainability in their businesses. We will work with partners to provide capacity building, tools and resources as well as providing the best practices to enable businesses adopt sustainable ways of doing business. Later in this quarter, KCIC will be realizing the result of a national wide survey on sustainability carried out late last year which will show the trends, opportunities as well as the threats that are presented by sustainability initiatives for the private sector. This will create the platform for creating awareness on sustainability issues that the center will be championing as part of its mandate.
The last thematic area that the center will focus on, is the financing of SMEs. This will be done through various mechanisms such as the proof of concept financing which will be provided to businesses that have a concept to proof or piloting an idea. This will be administered and managed by the Center with the hope that the proofed concepts can be scaled. For scaling financing, the Center subsidiary, Kenya Climate Ventures will start investing in 2017 with a target of investing to at least 4 businesses in 2017. The investment by KCV will be commercial financing and will be based on the criteria set by an independent Investment committee of the Fund.
It is clear from the above, the Center will be a buzz of activities in 2017 and we welcome ideas and partnerships that will help us achieve our mandate. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish you all and your organizations a Happy and Prosperous 2017 and looking forward to collaborations!