President Uhuru Kenyatta and IFC Vice President Mr Sergio Pimenta after a meeting at the Nairobi State House Tuesday.[Photo/ Uhuru Kenyatta Twitter]
Small and medium sized-business owners are set to benefit after President Uhuru Kenyatta's successful meeting with a top executive of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) at the Nairobi statehouse Tuesday.
The President and the IFC Vice President for Middle East and Africa Mr Sergio Pimenta deliberated on the state of business in Kenya, with the World Bank's private sector lending arm representative saying that his corporation is willing to uplift the area.
Mr Pimenta said that the corporation is keen on collaborating with the government to deliver on economic agenda, specifically on investments in the social sector.
''We will be looking at how we can train small and medium entrepreneurs to enable them benefit from the many tenders being availed in various sectors of the economy,'' he is quoted on the presidential official website.
He said that the same will give local investors the ability and needed qualification to fairly compete with foreign firms for tenders.
''Specifically, our interest is in building the capacity of SMEs (Small and Medium sized enterprises), including exploring discussions around mergers, so that they can bid fro projects on an equal footing with major companies from China and elsewhere,'' he said.
The President, on his side, hailed the achievement banking on it to aid the government in achieving it's pre-reelection promises circulating around affordable housing, food security, manufacturing and affordable healthcare dubbed the big 4.
''To achieve the big 4, it requires that we look at how to further support SMEs so that they invest in manufacturing and agro-processing,'' said the head of state.