Inkomoko Launches Strategy to Invest in 500,000 MSMEs in Kenya

Business advisory and investment firm Inkomoko has announced a strategy that will see it invest and offer financial support to half a million Medium and Small Micro-Enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya by 2030.

Under the new strategy, the firm also targets to invest Ksh 4.8 billion ($40 million) to support MSMEs across 8 countries in the region by 2030.

This is part of a series of events marking the 10th Anniversary of the company and a rebranding to a new corporate identity, Inkomoko.

Inkomoko has been working in Kenya since 2019 under the name African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC) Kenya.

While addressing the media in Mombasa County, the company Chief Executive Officer Julienne Oyler, said that this was part of the 10th anniversary celebration that kicked off last week in Rwanda.

She said that senior leadership from the firm will visit all Inkomoko locations across Kenya to thank partners and clients for their support over the years and commit to doing even more work together well into the future.

“We are very proud that so many entrepreneurs have allowed us to walk with them in their journey”

“With this new and ambitious strategy, as well as unifying all of our markets under one brand, we will do even more to support micro and small businesses to grow and create jobs for others in their communities,” said Oyler.

She said that over the last 10 years, the firm has served more than 41,000 entrepreneurs in Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia.

Oyler said that Inkomoko currently works in 5 cities in Kenya including Mombasa, Garissa, the Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement and the Dadaab Refugee Complex.

Nairobi she said hosts the firm’s Kenya headquarters and provides support to their field offices which she added works with nearly 7,000 entrepreneurs in 2022.

She added that they have plans to open more offices by the end of the year.

“By engaging in secondary cities and refugee settings, Inkomoko will deploy more investments, more digital services and market-linkages strategies that will connect entrepreneurs to one another nationally, and across geographies in the region,” she said.

Founded in 2012 by social entrepreneurs Julienne Oyler and Sara Leedom, the firm was originally called African Entrepreneur Collective.

Today, the company has 18 offices across Rwanda, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

The word Inkomoko is a Kinyarwanda word meaning “origin”, recognizing Rwanda as the place where the company started.

Oyler said that the significance of the name change was to unify the organization across their different markets as they had been operating under different names in Rwanda, Kenya and Ethiopia.

“Entreprenuers in East Africa see themselves working in one large market so uniting the organisation under one brand helps to show them that they are partners and connect from one market to the other”

“Referencing the “origin” in our name is also recognition that, for many, our services are the beginning of sustainable business growth for our clients,” she said.

“We support micro and small enterprises across East Africa so that they can grow to create jobs, improve livelihoods and create thriving communities,” she said.

“We would have invested 110,000 additional investments and the goal is to improve the lives and livelihoods of 7.6 million people.”