Ms. Gloria Ndekei, the Executive Director of KEPSA Foundation, on 17^th July 2024 met with Ms. Karen Exel, the USAID Program Lead for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA), Human Rights/Marginalized Populations, Democracy, Governance, Peace, and Security, to discuss potential areas of collaboration in disability inclusion in the private sector. Ms. Exel was accompanied by Ms. Salome Mbugua from Sight Savers.

Ms. Ndekei underscored the desire to strengthen the KEPSA Foundation's capacity to effectively champion disability inclusion in the private sector. She highlighted several initiatives targeting persons with disabilities, including championing and facilitating access to business opportunities by private sector organisations to ensure diversity in prequalifying women, youth, and persons with disabilities through Supplier Diversity, Boards Diversity, including upscaling employability of persons with disabilities. The Foundation has already signed an MOU with Light for the World which will kick start with the placement of interns at the Foundation.

Ms. Ndekei emphasized the need to develop and champion a model private-sector disability mainstreaming toolkit as a key priority. The development process for this toolkit would include collecting disability-disaggregated data to inform mainstreaming efforts. She also highlighted the necessity of increasing awareness and building the capacities of the private sector members to implement reasonable accommodations, facilitate employment and market connections for persons with disabilities, improve access to information, and strengthen dialogue and advocacy efforts for persons with disabilities through roundtables with the private sector and other stakeholders. Finally, she mentioned that KEPSA Foundation would work and leverage KEPSA Industry convening power to advocate for and implement inclusive policies that support persons with disabilities in business and employment contributing to the socioeconomic wellbeing of Persons with Disabilities.

Ms. Exel invited KEPSA Foundation to participate in the Kenya Business Disability Network (KBDN), which brings together the private sector and other partners in an employer-led initiative aimed at creating a workforce culture that is respectful and inclusive of persons with disabilities. She added that involving KEPSA Foundation in this network would be a strategic move to ensure capacity building and access to audits for enhanced disability mainstreaming.

Ms. Mbugua highlighted the partnerships between Sight Savers and USAID on the Global Labour Program, which support persons with disabilities in the agricultural value chain and provide support for women with disabilities in SMEs by linking them with private sector organizations such as East African Breweries Limited (EABL) and Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA).

The meeting concluded with an agreement that the three partners would strengthen their collaboration by entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This MOU would foster a comprehensive framework for the organizations to explore and develop initiatives that champion empowerment and disability inclusion in the private sector.