This article will introduce everything you need to know about Uwezo Fund in Kenya.
Uwezo Fund was launched in September 2013 through the Legal Notice No. 21 of the Public Finance Management Act, 2014. It is a vision 2030 flagship program to enable Women, Youth, and Persons with disabilities to access finances to promote business and enterprises at a constituency level.
Uwezo Fund provides mentorship opportunities to its beneficiaries, enabling them to take advantage of the 30% government procurement preference via its Capacity Building Programme.
The Fund, therefore, is an avenue for incubating enterprises, catalyzing innovation, promoting industry, creating employment, and growing the economy.
An oversight board manages the Fund at the national level and a Constituency Uwezo Fund Committee (CUFCs) at the constituency level government representatives and members of various Wards.
What are the Objectives of the Uwezo Fund?
The Funds objectives are to
- Expand access to finances to promote youth and women businesses and enterprises at the constituency level.
- Generate and promote self-employment for the youth and women and lastly, to
- Model an alternative finance framework in funding community is driven development.
Eligibility Criteria for Uwezo Fund Applicants.
Applicants shall qualify for Fund loan application if
For a group
- It has to be registered with the Registrar of Societies, the department of social services, or Cooperatives.
- Must have members aged 18 and 35 years, whereas the women’s groups shall be made up of women aged 18 years and above?
- It is based and operational at the constituency; it seeks to make an application for consideration.
- Operates a table banking structure or any other group fund structure where members make monthly contributions according to the groups’ internal rules.
- Have evidence of monthly contributions
- Hold a bank account in the name of the group.
For an institution
- the Institution should be a registered entity and should have listed youth and women groups.
How to apply for Uwezo Fund
To apply for the Uwezo fund,
- Ensure that you meet the eligibility criteria stated above
- Fill in an application form (available at the Constituency Uwezo Fund Management Committee office).
- Apply together with the relevant documents to the Constituency Uwezo Fund Management Committee office. And await notification from the committee.
Eligible Amount
For administration of the Fund
Eligible qualifying amounts for a group shall be a minimum of Ksh 50,000 and a maximum of Ksh 500,000 at any one time. The following criteria are used to determine the total amount that a group is eligible to receive
- The length of time the group has been in existence
- The total amount contributed by the group
- Current status of contribution and
- The proposed business plan for the loan applied
Note: The eligible amount shall be three times the group savings, BUT it shall not be
- Below Kshs. 50,000 (Minimum).
- More than the amount applied for in the application form and
- More than Kshs. 500,000 (Maximum).
