EU Announces New Initiative for Kenyan Youth With Up to Ksh 600M Funding Each

Youthful entrepreneurs will have a chance of securing support for their start-ups through a programme announced by the European Union (EU).

EU’s subsidiary in Kenya on Friday, February 17, announced it was gearing up to launch the Invest in Young Businesses in Africa (IYBA) with an aim of offering support for start-up businesses owned by youth and women. 

The program, according to the EU, will prioritise businesses in the science, technology, innovation and digital spaces as well as businesses promoting the global goal of minimizing carbon emissions.

European Union Ambassador to Kenya, Henriette Geiger and President William Ruto pose for a photo with other diplomats and Kenya Kwanza leaders at his former Karen home on Thursday, June 2, 2022

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“To support the early stages of business in Kenya for women and young people, the EU will be launching the Investing Young Businesses in Africa initiative (IYBA) that supports new businesses,” a statement from EU in Kenya read. 

The support will be geared towards increasing the quantity and quality of public and private investment in Medium Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) at their early stages.

Further, the support will look to increase the number of newly created MSMEs and to help grow early-stage companies in African partner countries. 

EU, which unites European nations in the pursuit of common goals, conceived the programme with an aim of creating decent jobs across the African continent and empowering women and young people. 

“The specific objective is to support and develop the new and early stage business ecosystem actors as well as increase the quantity and the quality of financial instruments and technical assistance for these enterprises,” the EU  noted. 

According to the information on the programme’s website, the funds will be in different categories, with different amounts of funding. 

The first category will be focused on pre-seed financing and technical assistance with an aim of increasing financial and technical support for pre-seed stage MSMEs, with financial needs up to Ksh26 million. 

Further, building block two of the initiative will be centred on early-stage financing by helping them increase access to finance for SMEs at seed and early stages, with financial needs of between Ksh26 million and Ksh668,000,000 million.

If rolled out in the country, Kenya will become one of the beneficiaries of the programme targeting nations within Sub-Saharan Africa.

President William Ruto tries out virtual reality headsets at the Jamhuri Tech and Innovation Summit at KICC, Nairobi, on December 11, 2022.

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