Wednesday, 30^th March 2022, KEPSA CEO Ms. Carole Kariuki met with a Slovakian Delegation led by the State Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms.  Ingrid Brockova, the Ambassador of Slovakia to Kenya Ms. Katrina Zufa Leligdonova, Director of Slovak Aid Mr. Thomas Bokor and Ms. Ivana Bennarova Office of State Secretary. The leaders discussed broad issues including bilateral partnership between Kenyan and Slovakian businesses that will seek to boost trade between the two regions.

Also present in the meeting was Mr. Bernard Mburu – Economic Affairs & Commercial Diplomacy Directorate, Ministry of Trade Kenya and Mr. Micheni Muriithi – Assistant Director, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kenya.

Ms. Kariuki, informed the Secretary of the work that KEPSA is doing to support SMEs to scale up. KEPSA has supported SMEs through various programs, such as the recently launched Kenya – US SME Trade Initiative program to support SMEs venture into new markets, access to affordable financing through a revolving fund, as well as training and capacity building initiatives. Other programs include supporting the youth to access Digital and Digital enabled jobs through the Ajira Digital program. She reiterated that KEPSA is committed to supporting SMEs to scale up to the level of contributing more than 30% to the GDP.

KEPSA plays a critical role in Economic Diplomacy complementing government efforts and part of this involves engagement with Institutions and Development partners such as the Slovak Republic Embassy in Nairobi and Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO).

Ms. Brockova, affirmed Slovakia’s commitment towards private sector engagements especially with SMEs. Like Kenya, she estimated that SMEs contribute upto 90% of jobs and 30% to the GDP in Slovakia. She indicated that one of the ways to increase their contribution to GDP is through internationalization, allowing them an opportunity to network and diversify their portfolio. This way, they can take advantage of digital transformation to scale up, mentioning that the EXIM Bank of Slovakia has a financial instrument that the Private sector in Kenya could tap into.

Slovakia is one of EU’s emerging economies, and the Manufacturing sector is one of the most prolific one. In addition, sectors in: Agriculture, ICT, Defense, Health, Transport and Energy are among those that have seen exponential growth and business opportunity.

The meeting took place ahead of the Kenya – Slovak Business Forum scheduled to take place on the 19^th May 2022 in Nairobi. The forum is organized in partnership with SARIO and will bring together a delegation of at least 70 Slovak companies in Green Solutions, Agriculture, Coffee, Health Care, Plastic Industry, Defense and ICT. KEPSA will work closely with SARIO to plan and engage the private sector to participate in the Business Forum and the B2B meetings.