KCB Bank Kenya has committed Sh250 billion to fund women entrepreneurs in Kenya in the next five years, in what the bank says will cement its role in fast tracking economic growth.

KCB says it will extend the enhanced financing to women-led and owned Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across the country.

The bank says it has eased credit requirements and security among other documents to support businesses to guarantee faster processing of loans to the women entrepreneurs.

Businesswomen will also benefit from non-financial support from partner organizations.

In the Sh50 billion per year platform, KCB aims to support Female-Led and Made Enterprises (FLME) to create more jobs while enhancing its outreach towards unique market segments.

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“KCB believes that the MSME sector bears the biggest influence on the economic trajectory of East Africa. We consider this sub-sector as a promising development frontier. We are reimagining the way we engage with women entrepreneurs to enable them better overcome business challenges by providing working capital and other critical non-financial needs to sustain their growth,” said KCB Group CEO Paul Russo.

He added: “Women are running some of the most transformative business enterprises in Kenya which we see as the conglomerates of the future. At the same time, they face a lot of obstacles, like limited access to credit facilities, labor and skill gaps, exclusion from key networks, as well as social and legal constraints. What we are now doing is mainstreaming this agenda by widening the net to enable more women entrepreneurs to get access to the critical business support touchpoints.”


Russo says data shows that almost 80 per cent of women-owned businesses have limited or no access to credit and lack collateral or proper documentation to access credit facilities.

“When a woman wants to start or grow her own business, the odds of securing a business loan are heavily stacked against her. We are relaxing some of the requirements as a solution to addressing inequality in accessing credit finance,” Russo went on.

The regional bank says it is improving its focus on diversity and inclusion by enhancing internal and external programmes, in this case to support the women agenda.


KCB says its focus on women is aligned with the UN Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically Goals No 1, 8, 10 and 17, which focus on No Poverty, Decent Work & Economic Growth, Reduced Inequality and Partnerships respectively.

The Bank says among its key pledge is to increase the value of loans disbursed to women and upscale its spend targeting special groups such as persons living with disabilities.