On 28^th February 2022, KEPSA CEO Ms. Carole Kariuki, Mr. Harrison Ngatia – KEPSA Head of Projects and Mr. Timothy Odongo – KEPSA Business Hub Manager met with Mr. Nicholas Colloff – Executive Director, Argidius Foundation, Ms. Mary Mwangi – Program Manager, Argidius Foundation and Ms. Sharon Afandi – Grants Administrator, Argidius Foundation, at the KEPSA offices. The meeting was aimed at familiarizing both organizations with each other for the purposes of establishing a program to jointly support SMEs through KEPSA’s initiatives targeted towards supporting SMEs.

Ms. Kariuki briefed the Argidius Foundation team on the importance of supporting SMEs in a structured manner guided by the Small and Medium Enterprises Policy Index that was launched on 10^th December 2019 to provide policymakers and market players with a tool to monitor and evaluate progress achieved in implementing policies meant to support SMEs.

The Index is based on eight-policy dimensions and outlines recommendations that are highly necessary for SME development across the policy space, legislation, regulations, programs, and SME support systems. It is intended to support the government in setting targets for SME policy development by identifying strategic priorities for improving the business environment to stimulate the growth of SMEs and the entire economy. The index is drawn from a total of 75 indicators that are relied upon in measuring the extent to which each policy dimension is either supportive or not supportive of the MSMEs. The eight policy dimensions include:

1. Enabling governance and business regulatory environment;
2. Reliable infrastructure and access to inputs;
3. Human capital and entrepreneurial skills development;
4. Access to SMEs financing;
5. Effectiveness of SME representation;
6. Supportiveness of framework for business development;
7. Market linkages and expansion initiatives; and
8. Innovation, ICT adoption and technology transfer.

It was agreed that upon further review, both KEPSA and Argidius Foundation will jointly review the above eight policy dimensions to inform the way forward with regards to offering strategic support to SMEs as well as interventions to be adopted as the two organizations develop a mutually agreed-upon working relation.