On July 31, 2023, KEPSA participated in the launch event of the Standard Chartered Women and Youth Mentorship and Training Program, where we are partners. Ms. Mary Ngechu represented KEPSA at the event where various issues touching on SMEs were highlighted and discussed. The aspect was that lack of finance is one of the greatest issues affecting Women led SMEs. The program launched has been a working progress since 2021 and has taken a life of its own in a bid to fully support women in their scaling up and ensuring continuity, to provide a business case for women and suppliers.

The program also aims at linking up businesses and understanding the market environment in other parts of the world so as to improve the women business proposition in the Kenyan market. This year, the Standard Chartered Nairobi marathon celebration will celebrate its 20th anniversary. Taking this into account provided hope as to the shape the program will take going forward.

There are certain challenges facing women entrepreneurs, including access to mentorship, network, structure, and expertise, which backed the innovation and development of the program. The program was launched under the theme: Building stronger, prosperous women led businesses.

The main core value propositions include;

• Huge scale-up by providing the right solutions.
• Connecting to network and opportunities and ecosystem
• Create a community to create a sense of belonging.

The launch event culminated with a big thank you to Partners and many other women who participated in the design of the program and who believed in the program's aim: Continuous improvement and continuous innovation for women led businesses.