Project
Chemutai Ruto, CEO of 'Gallant Branding', a participant of KIEP 250+: "Our vision is a world where businesses drive positive social change, communities flourish and women entrepreneurs reach their full potential."
Financed by the World Bank, the Kenya Industry and Entrepreneurship 250+ (KIEP 250+) successfully completed its first phase after five years, giving over a hundred enterprises the financial aid and push to flourish. With the expertise of colleagues from our Nairobi office and our partner organisation Intellecap Advisory Services, these Kenyan businesses were linked to resources that enabled them to grow in great and sustained steps.
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Kenya are a mighty force. They make up 98% of all the businesses in the country, stimulating the economy. In 2024, they created over 700,000 jobs, comprising 90% of the total jobs in the East African nation. And they advance innovation across multiple sectors.
But even with SMEs’ impact in Kenya, these enterprises are still racked with challenges. Chief among them is a lack in adequate access to training and financing – without which SMEs can have a tough time sustaining their business.
Tackling this gap has been an imperative and prompted decisive action, including the launch of initiatives like KIEP 250+. Given the recognition of SMEs’ contribution to the country – alongside Kenya Vision 2030’s plan to raise citizens’ living standards and create a globally competitive nation – this project came at an opportune time for Kenya’s economic landscape.
As part of the Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry (MITI) larger industry and entrepreneurship programme, KIEP 250+ provides SMEs technical assistance tailored to their unique needs. This involved dispersing performance-based grant funds and implementing capacity-building activities.
A total of 142 Kenyan SMEs were empowered and received significant support through the project. Funding and training boosted productivity, capabilities and operations that enabled the SMEs to integrate innovative solutions and create new jobs in their business.
This level of success shows how support and interventions of initiatives like KIEP 250+ – paired with the SMEs’ grit to improve and expand – can bring out the potential of promising enterprises.
“There’s been growth, a hundred percent,” said a representative of Mabati Yetu, a roofing solutions SME. The business has seen an increase in customer inquiries compared to previous years, which translated into sales.
The agribusiness Camino Ruiz Agencies echoes this observation in its own business, saying their partnership with KIEP 250+ empowered them to reach “higher revenues and a larger market access”, all while introducing new products in their portfolio.
These two firms offer only a glimpse into the stories that show the project’s impact on its participants.
KIEP 250+ generally reached – and, in some cases, surpassed – its targets for participant SMEs, demonstrating the impact of the project’s interventions. Some of the areas the team focussed on to show the interventions’ success were:
One of the main features of KIEP 250+ was performance-based grant funding from MITI, doled out to participants that passed the approval process in the grant cycle that NIRAS oversaw. With this grant, they not only received funding but also tailored capacity-building support. In total, KIEP 250+ disbursed grant funds and provided technical assistance to 142 SMEs (45 of which were women-led), a remarkable achievement amid the setbacks KIEP 250+ encountered, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Both supported recipient SMEs’ abilities to supercharge their operations and grow their revenue.
“SME grants are not gifts but rather strategic policy investments,” says Project Manager Åsa Forsman. “KIEP 250+ showed that even modest investments in innovation can catalyse significant changes at the firm level.”
For revenue growth, the team’s initial target was to boost 11 SMEs’ revenue generation. A successful SME in this indicator must have higher revenue growth than their average achieved in the two years prior to the project’s interventions. By the end of KIEP 250+, the team successfully grew the revenue of 27 SMEs, a 145% increase from the original target.
“Revenue growth is a fundamental measure of business success and economic vitality, which is a key outcome for interventions by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation, as well as for the Government of Kenya ” Åsa shares.
The SMEs regarded the technical and financial interventions of KIEP 250+ to be “a game-changer and catalyst for transformative growth”. The support enabled them to make changes in the organisation that, according to the beneficiaries themselves, would have taken years to accomplish without the project.
Pinnacle Systems Kenya, a fleet and road safety solutions enterprise, saw a phenomenal revenue growth of 47% from 2022 to 2024. With KIEP 250+, they successfully rolled out an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that automated parts of the workflow and overall improved their operations. It led to greater customer satisfaction, a hallmark of a thriving business.
While a majority of SMEs outside the 27 have not yet shown above-average revenue growth from the funding – especially since it will take some time for the impact to fully materialise – they said it still helped them see positive changes immediately in their business.
Innovations are important for SMEs in a booming economy because they:
The fund management team also exceeded expectation on innovation. While the initial goal was to support 60 SMEs in introducing one or more business innovations, 104 companies did so – including 51 led by women. These innovations gave the businesses the opportunity to make new product and service offerings, as well as improve their operations through ERP systems (or software tools that help manage business operations) and digitisation efforts. Moreover, KIEP 250+ enhanced productivity for 21 SMEs, which will help them sustain the positive changes in their business in the long term.
This was the case for the women-run SME TakaTaka Solutions, a waste collection business that turns refuse into resource for new products. The main innovation that led to higher productivity for this SME was an ERP system that housed all the sales, staff and customer data, which led to greater customer satisfaction.
As a result of KIEP 250+’s interventions, TakaTaka Solutions was able to collect waste faster, reach more customers and even create 84 new full-time jobs.
“Through KIEP, TakaTaka Solutions has improved its operations through digitisation and capacity building leading to higher productivity gains and greater competitiveness in the waste management sector,” a company representative said.
Another woman-led enterprise also in the circular economy sphere, Bottle Logistics recovers glass waste and creates a variety of products from the materials. KIEP 250+ helped them automate their glass sanitation process, significantly improving their productivity with the innovation: “Previously, we were doing the washing manually, and our capacity was limited to around 500,000 glass bottles we could wash in a month, Now, we’ve moved towards semi-automation, and our washing capacity’s increased to around one million bottles in a month.”
We have grown by 35%. We have increased our productivity. So, with the confidence of the new machinery that we brought in, we were able to list now in the tier 1 and tier 2 supermarket.
Aromakare, a woman-owned beauty and home care SME and participant in KIEP 250+
SMEs applied
SMEs given business diagnostics
SMEs received grants & technical assistance
To ensure SMEs’ resilience after the project, KIEP 250+ also focussed on training. After the pandemic, there was a great need for capacity building to better withstand unforeseeable events that affect the economy and business. Given this widespread concern, the project set a goal to train 450 individuals – staff members, farmers from agribusinesses, sales representatives and other key personnel in participating SMEs. By the end of KIEP 250+, 5269 individuals, including 3328 women, had undergone training, a stunning achievement.
“The SMEs' training initiatives were comprehensive, addressing diverse needs across their value chains and internal operations,” Åsa notes. “Investing in skills and knowledge was a core strategy in KIEP 250+ for enhancing human capital, improving labour productivity and enabling workers and entrepreneurs to adapt to new technologies and market demands.”
Core areas for training covered:
Gallant Corporate Services, a women-run fashion and textile firm that received Kaizen training, saw a shift in mindset among management and employees to embrace continued improvement. Employee engagement increased to 85% and staff turnover fell to 5% from 10%. “We [also] have an 18% gain in our savings from the textile department,” a representative said. “It’s a very positive direction.”
As for PROTEQ Automation, a manufacturer of computer network control machines, improved operations were primarily a result of the project’s support in getting them certification: “We used the grant mostly to improve our processes. One of the key aspects is ISO. It has created a very good system where people are able to track materials better and schedule much better.”
At the heart of KIEP 250+ was the grant cycle – the programme’s most essential tool. Designed and implemented by NIRAS and Intellecap, the full cycle was executed for each of the three cohorts, either independently or simultaneously in some parts. It was structured in three phases: sourcing and mobilisation; diagnosis and performance improvement plan (PIP); and performance contract and implementation.
Carefully selected from a pool of 1035 applicants, participating SMEs in the first phase were shortlisted through a rigorous, merit-based selection process led by an independent Selection Committee.
In the second phase, each selected SME underwent an in-depth diagnostic assessment to identify gaps and opportunities for growth. The project successfully diagnosed a total of 178 SMEs , a critical step that laid the groundwork for formulating the PIPs, which were jointly crafted by the SMEs and business advisors. These PIPs, issued by 168 enterprises, formed the foundation for change among participants. They outlined key interventions and guided vetted business development services providers in delivering the targeted technical assistance.
Once the PIPs were drafted, the Grant Approval Committee – comprising representatives from MITI and the fund management team – reviewed the plans and determined if the recommended interventions met the goals of KIEP 250+. Approved PIPs triggered performance-based grant contracts, initiating implementation of interventions focussed on productivity, innovation and competitiveness. These activities continued to project completion, with many SMEs, as highlighted in the stories above, graduating with outstanding results.
KIEP 250+ was implemented on a tight timeline due to a standstill period of two years between 2021 and 2023. While three years of intervention roll-out is typically too short to see the real impact of capacity building and financing, early signs of transformation are already visible. These shifts – if scaled through institutional support to other SMEs in Kenya – have the potential to reshape the nation’s broader SME landscape.
Although the project formally concluded in April 2025, its legacy extends far beyond the 142 participating SMEs. The insights and innovations generated by KIEP 250+ are poised to drive lasting change and unlock new economic potential across Kenya’s economy.
