Uasin Gishu County Enterprise Development Fund Committee has disbursed Sh13 million out of the Sh19 million approved to loan various Cooperative Societies this Financial Year.
The funds will be loaned out to cooperatives that applied for the loan to boost their enterprises, according to the county chief officer for Cooperatives and Enterprise Development, Ruth Samoei.
Ms. Samoei said her department will work on mechanisms for enhancing the fund in the coming years so that it can benefit more societies.
She made the remarks while scrutinising and approving CEDF loan application documents for Cooperatives that met the threshold.
The County Enterprise Development Fund (CEDF) committee chair, Philip Mamet, noted on his part that the county, through the Department of Cooperatives, has made the fund accessible, affordable, and available for the societies.
He maintained that it was vital for the societies to put the approved funds into use, calling on them to adopt swift models for repayment for other societies
to also benefit, and challenged the committee members to work on strengthening the Fund to make it more sustainable.
The committee also discussed modalities for countering the late repayment of societies dues by the processors, which is said to be the highest contributing factor to late repayments of county loans by the cooperative societies.
CEDF Director Kipleting Mengich and his counterpart for Trade, Isaac Laga, called on the societies that did not qualify to ensure they followed all the set guidelines on compliance issues for them to benefit.
‘We are continuously looking at other avenues that would see this fund become more effective and efficient in its business process going forward for our residents to access it better and be able to grow their ventures for economic growth,’ reiterated Mengich.
He lauded the Committee for the success of the fund, saying their support, dedication, and the foundation they laid have seen the fund grow from lending Sh20 million to more than Sh700 million currently.
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ocieties that depicted easy and traceable records of cash flow, the status of their loan repayment, and a clear purpose for loan application were approved with fewer objections.
Farmer-based societies, boda boda, and matatu Saccos are the sectors that applied for the funds that are given out at 8% and 5% interest annually.
Source: Kenya News Agency
President Kais Saied met, on Monday at the Carthage Palace, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Odile Renaud-Basso, who is visiting Tunisia from February 19 to 20.
During the meeting, Saied stressed the importance of strengthening dialogue between Tunisia and the EBRD with a view to financing promising projects in Tunisia, particularly in the fields of renewable energy, new technologies, health, infrastructure and water desalination, “within the framework of a global vision that meets the aspirations of the sovereign Tunisian people”, according to the Presidency.
Saied, whose comments were quoted in the press release, also underscored the state’s commitment to providing the necessary legal and legislative guarantees and a favourable climate to attract private investment and encourage Tunisia’s partners to finance more diversified projects capable of boosting growth and development.
The President underlined the State’s support for entrepreneurship and business, saying t
hat “the State attaches equal importance to supporting public services and enterprises, given their central role in the national economy and in the protection of fundamental human rights (health, transport, etc.)”.
At the end of the meeting, EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso said that her meeting with the Head of State had focused on the main priorities, adding she would also be meeting members of the government in the coming days to discuss financing for businesses and very concrete projects for the country.
Since starting operations in Tunisia in 2012, the EBRD has invested more than pound 2.1 billion in 69 projects in the country and supported more than 1,200 SMEs through technical assistance funded by the European Union.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse