Kua Ventures invites Small Businesses for Loans of Sh81 million

Successful local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be able to access loans of between Sh5 million and Sh10 million to fund their operations through Kua Ventures’ fourth edition of a financing program, which has announced the opening of applications.

The financing program, which was launched on Tuesday, is aimed solely at companies with Kenyan founders that have been in operation for at least three years and generate annual revenues of between Sh5 million and Sh25 million.

Additionally, the candidates must have a track record of pursuing social impact via their business models.

The loans, which must be repaid in five years, will have an interest rate of 12 percent, calculated on a reducing balance basis. Applications will be evaluated continuously, according to the company, up to June 30 this year.

“We are seeking to invest about $600,000 (Sh81.7 million) in the next few months and that would cover between 10 and 20 businesses. At a conversion rate of two percent, we could take 500 to 1,000 applications,” Kua Ventures marketing and communications director Caroline Kagendo said.

“We got 236 applications in the last round, so I would say we can err on the side of getting too many applications but that would still be fine.”

In addition to joining a group of like-minded peers already enrolled in the program, the company claims that successful entrepreneurs will gain from a series of customized coaching sessions to increase their business capacity.

Kua has lent more than Sh100 million to 15 local businesses in the previous three rounds, including those in the waste management, retail, healthcare, agribusiness, construction, and ICT sectors, among many others.