The Women Enterprise Fund is a government strategic plan aimed at mobilizing resources that will give affordable access to financial and business services to empower women.
The arm was established in 2007. Since the establishment of the enterprise, they have developed three strategic plans.
The first was the plan covering 2009 – 2012 and the second between 2013 – 2017.
The plans have one vision to empower any woman contributing to the development of social welfare.
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Products offered by the women enterprise fund
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Loans
Tuinuke Loan-Constituency Women Enterprise Scheme
Tuinuke loan is a product given at the constituency level.
The loan is given to registered women in the constituency willing to expand their businesses or start one.
Features
- Must be a registered self-help group of 10 members.
- Must have an account in any financial institution like banks or SACCOs
- The women groups must be trained in business management skills by the WEF officers.
- The loan does not incur any interest fee, just the 5% administrative fee with a grace period of 1 month.
How to apply for the Tuinuke loan
- Visit the Women Enterprise Fund website
- Click on the Tuinuke Loan on the loans tab, then click on the download Tuinuke application form.
LPO Financing
The product is tailored to serve women by increasing their capacity to respond and adequately service tenders, thus meeting supply requirements.
The loan will be available to individual women owning enterprises or women-owned companies.
Features
- A company must be registered with the relevant government body
- For companies, groups, and partnerships, membership composition must be at least 70% women and 30% men (or 100% women)
- A valid Local Purchase Order/Local Service Order duly signed and stamped by the procuring entity, i.e., public institutions.
- The maximum loan is Kshs. 2 Million per individual borrowing
- Duly signed a Letter of Undertaking and acceptable collateral per Fund’s Credit Policy. Acceptable collateral are bank guarantees, shares, or motor vehicle
- Customer account details
- A one-off administration fee of 5% of the loan amount
- Tenure of 90 days
- Certified copy of the letter by the supplier (loanee) to the procuring entity requesting payment through the Women Enterprise Fund
- Amount financed is 60% of the LPO amount
Bid Bond Financing
Bid bond financing is a product aimed at helping women in Kenya achieve the tendering process requirements.
It is available to individual women who own businesses.
How to apply for bid bond financing
- Fill in the bid bond application form
- Pay the commission. This can be done through KCB collection account no. 1111394423 or MPESA pay bill 830800 Account Number: 340000301.
- The borrower should sign indemnity terms and conditions
- Issuance of bid/tender security.
Sacco Lending
This is where the WEF enables individual women to access loans from the SACCO to develop their businesses.
2. Marketing support and Linkages
Marketing is one of the essential tools when it comes to any business.
Without a good marketing strategy, the business may likely fail.
Many businesses with immense potential have failed due to the inability to access the right markets for their products and services.
This is why the WEF is providing marketing support to women.
In this regard, the enterprise has invested in two primary obligations to support women with businesses.
- Facilitating and supporting small women-owned enterprises to develop linkages with large established enterprises/institutions for business and mentorship and
- Promoting the marketing of products and services of women-owned enterprises in domestic, regional, and international markets.
To achieve the above, the enterprise Fund has employed strategies to meet the obligations.
They include:
- They offer women entrepreneurs the opportunity to network and showcase their products. This comes from organizing or participating in marketing events like trade fairs, exhibitions, conferences, and even roadshows.
- Linking small women-owned enterprises with large established private enterprises or government institutions for business and mentorship.
Under these partnerships, the women entrepreneurs are facilitated to learn and trade with the established enterprise or institution.
The linkages take such forms as Subcontracting, outsourcing, sale to government, franchising, and business mentorship/business development training.
3. Capacity Building
Capacity-building may be through volunteering.
The volunteers are based at the constituency level, and their roles include:
- recruiting women
- training them, which include business skills, Market Access, and Basic ICT skills
- monitoring their projects and loan repayments
It is incumbent upon the volunteers to conduct women’s training in their group setups at the constituency level.
This enables the Fund to achieve capacity building at a high level.
For further information about the Women Enterprise Fund, you can contact them.
Email:info@wef.co.ke
Or call on +254 0714606845-6
Or visit them at their office at NSSF Building, Block A, Eastern Wing, 11th Floor.
