Absa Bank commits Sh10 billion for businesswomen

By  Moraa Obiria

Senior Gender Journalist

Absa Bank Kenya has committed Sh10 billion to financing women-owned business in Kenya, breaking their generational credit barriers stifling growth of their enterprises.
Mr Jeremy Awori, the bank’s managing director said the tailor-made kitty excludes collateral barriers appended to loans business women seek from banks.
“Clearly security is a problem for women and through this funding, we want to ensure we advance diversity and inclusion,” he said while announcing the credit facility in Nairobi on Tuesday.
He also unveiled another lending product Wezesha Express, enabling entrepreneurs to access a maximum of Sh3 million processed within 48 hours. This would facilitate women to meet emergency capital needs.

PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Despite the preferential procurement opportunities fronted by the government, women are unable to capitalise on the affirmative provision due to lack of credit, said Mr Awori.
Since 2013, public institutions are required to award 30 per cent of tenders to women, youth and persons with disabilities.
"Achieving the objective of empowering the women through offering government services is, however, turning out to be a challenge as women cannot access credit due to lack of security," he said.
A title deed validating ownership of a piece of land is a predominant security asset for accessing loans.
In Kenya, however, less than two per cent of women are independent land owners, thus implying a financial and lending sector hugely disfavouring women.

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GENDER EQUALITY

In analysing 1,000,099 title deeds issued by the government between 2013 and 2017, Kenya Land Alliance (KLA) found that women only received 103,043 titles, a mere 10.3 per cent.
Prof Margaret Kobia, CS Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs counted the loan facility as one of the strides Kenya is making towards promoting achievement of gender equality.
“In a scale of ten, we are at six and that means we have a journey to make,” she said.
Even as women struggle to break barriers to advance in social, political, economic and cultural spheres; lack of finance, prejudice and violence continue to hold them back, the CS said.
She encouraged women to grow each other through networking, mentorship and sharing business opportunities.

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