Absa Bank Kenya to Host SheTrades Kenya Hub for Two Years

Today, Absa Bank Kenya and the International Trade Centre (ITC) signed a memorandum of understanding to host the ITC SheTrades Kenya Hub for an additional two years.

The SheTrades Hub is a special project of the ITC’s global program, with the goal of promoting improved trade, productivity, and competitiveness for female entrepreneurs and female-owned businesses to ensure that they play a significant part in global commerce.

This hub is part of a network of 13 others that spans Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa.

A Central Bank of Kenya survey revealed a 6% discrepancy between men’s and women’s access to formal financial institutions, which the expanded collaboration hopes to eliminate.

Nearly half of all small businesses in the country are owned by women entrepreneurs, but obstacles to obtaining financing still exist.

More than 8,500 women have received financial literacy training and over 10,400 women have gotten business financing help, totaling more than $23 million since the ITC and Absa Bank Kenya partnership was established in 2016.

The collaboration played a key role in the 2021 launch of Absa’s See Her Empowered (SHE) Business Initiative, which aims to better assist female entrepreneurs in gaining access to funding, education, and mentorship for the growth of their businesses and market information.

Through the SheTrades Kenya Hub and the expanded two-year agreement, Absa Bank will expand its financial services for women entrepreneurs.

“The SheTrades programme aligns well with our overall commitment to positively impact and grow women-owned businesses in the country by creating opportunities for them to participate in the global economy by building their capacities and delivering trainings on financial literacy and entrepreneurship.” Abdi Mohamed, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director of Absa Bank Kenya said.

The Bank has a broader commitment as part of this strategy to provide financial and non-financial support to over one million women entrepreneurs countrywide by 2025 so they can scale up and grow their businesses.

“Absa Bank Kenya is not only ITC’s first SheTrades Hub, but it is also the first financial institution to host one of our Hubs,” ITC Executive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton said.

“With access to finance being one of the most pressing obstacles faced by women entrepreneurs in Kenya and globally, we hope that more financial institutions will follow Absa Bank Kenya’s footsteps in unlocking business financing for women,” she added.

The Kenya Export Promotion and Branding Agency’s acting CEO, Floice Mukabana, and the ITC Executive Director met earlier this month to explore how the two sides may strengthen their cooperation in order to increase the market and financial access for women entrepreneurs in Kenya.

The 14th ITC SheTrades Hub will be unveiled in June at the World Economic Development Forum 2023 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, which will be hosted by the Mongolian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.