County secretary calls on youths to take advantage of business opportunities

Acting Nairobi County Secretary Dr. Jairus Musumba has urged youth and women to make use of the County business information centres to obtain business information and training for business startups.

He said that the county government has information centres at Karandini and Westlands markets.

The County Secretary spelt out some of the measures that Nairobi County has put in place for ease of doing business in the City.

“Nairobi County Government has reduced Single Business Permit charges by half to enable traders continue doing business amidst Covid 19 pandemic,” he noted

He added that the County has also come up with new markets (Kangundo Road, Mwariro,Karindini and Westlands) and set aside amenities like lactation Centers for mothers, leather manufacturing incubation centres in Kariokor and Jogoo Road as well as partnering with other agencies to provide modern equipments for manufacturing.

City Hall has also devolved licensing services to the Sub- County level and plans are underway to devolve the same to the ward level.

Dr. Musumba confirmed that the County has set aside Sh 30M for SMEs revolving fund from the National Government.

He was speaking when he joined other panelists,(Dr. Julius Kipng’etich the Chief Executive Officer Jubilee Holdings, Fred Waswa CEO, Octagon Africa Financial Services, Benjamin Abongo Carpex Life Insurance and Starnely Karanja Head of the Business at Madison Insurance Company) at the ongoing 2nd Edition of the Small and Medium Enterprise ( SMEs) Conference and Expo at KICC.

The panelists called on the Government to come up with a Ministry solely dealing with SMEs which will address SMEs issues. They said there is also a need to start financial literacy at primary school level to inculcate a culture of financial management and literacy in young children.

SMEs were encouraged to get insurance covers as risk mitigation measures.