On February 21, KEPSA, through the Jiinue Growth Program, hosted a half-day stakeholders validation workshop and roundtable discussions on the SME market connect program curriculum at the Serena Hotel, Nairobi. The event brought together key stakeholders from Kenya’s SME sector, including representatives from the government, private sector associations, financial institutions, and civil society organizations. The workshop focused on the SME Market Connect program curriculum, which is designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) enhance their market access, grow their businesses, and improve competitiveness. The curriculum equips SMEs with the necessary tools and strategies to access opportunities in large corporates' supply chains. 

In his opening remarks, Mr. Harrison Ngatia, the Chief SME & Enterprise Development Officer at KEPSA, emphasized the importance of collaboration and advocacy in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Kenya. He highlighted KEPSA’s commitment to assisting SMEs in accessing markets through its key focus areas: market access, financial linkages, technical assistance, innovation and thought leadership, and policy advocacy. 

Additionally, he spoke about KEPSA’s SME Innovation Challenge Excellence Awards, which aims to support and recognize SMEs pioneering market expansion through innovation. He also mentioned ongoing investor readiness training programs designed to equip SMEs with the necessary skills to become funding-ready. 

Mr. Ngatia further highlighted KEPSA’s continuous efforts to enhance its support systems for SMEs. ‘Today, we are reviewing feedback on a curriculum we started last year to ensure that all essential elements are fully incorporated,’ he stated, underscoring the importance of continuous improvement to meet the evolving needs of SMEs in the country. 

In his presentation, Mr. Zachary Kariuki, the KEPSA consultant emphasized the vital role the curriculum will play in bridging the gap in market access, identifying key challenges faced by SMEs from procure to pay process as well as identifying strategic collaboration opportunities between SMEs., 

Among the issues that Mr. Kariuki highlighted as being presented by large entities as impediments to SMEs during procurement are:

• Weak responses to bidding requests, hence being eliminated at early stages 
• Non=formalization and inadequate compliance by the SMEs 
• Weak working capital to sustain regular supplies 
• Lack of capacity to contract and/or interpret contracting instruments 
• Lack of information on opportunities in large supply chains 
   

Additionally, the study also found that while SMEs have a strong desire to enter the circles of large enterprises supply market, they fear that they have little capacity to support large contracts and supply orders, and some SMEs have have low trust with the procurement ecosystem, largely due to lack of visibility. Additionally, most SMEs lack the necessary skills and competencies to meet the demands of large enterprises, particularly in bidding and contract performance. The study also found that SME support programs focus primarily on financial stability, neglecting essential areas such as supply chain and customer service development. “SME sector is heavily concentrated in goods supply, leaving the service sector underserved, with limited SME participation in professional skills-based trades. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions to bridge capability gaps and improve SME integration into larger supply chains,” he added. 

The curriculum will have 9 modules that aim to equip SMEs with the necessary skills and knowledge to successfully navigate procurement, business formalization, financing, and supplier relationship management: 

• Introductory Profile of the SMEs vs Large Enterprises Landscape 
• Business Opportunities Mining and Processing  
• Business Formalization 
• Tenders Processing and Negotiation   
• Business Deal Negotiations 
• Suppliers' Relationship Management & Contract Performance  
• Customer Needs and Product Standardization   
• Business Financing and Working Capital Management 
• Business Documentation and Data Management 

The participants welcomed the curriculum as being good and important for SMEs to learn from and encouraged the continuous improvement of the modules to add more challenges that SMEs may face in the future. 

The participants expressed optimism about the curriculum and its vital role in equipping SMEs with relevant skills and knowledge for success in procurement. However, they also emphasized the need for the modules to be progressive and adaptable to future challenges SMEs may face. 

In his closing remarks, Mr. Levi Injendi, KEPSA Trade and Investment Officer, stated that the program targets to train 500 SMEs targeting especially women, youth and PWD led SMEs. KEPSA will reach out to different ecosystem players for knowledge exchange during the training, to make them more practical. He added that KEPSA would engage government stakeholders to share legal requirements and invite financial institutions and corporations to some classes to present available opportunities. He concluded by thanking the participants for attending the validation workshop 

Photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjC3bXe