Why 400,000 SMEs are dying annually

Hawker selling her wares along Muindi Mbingu Street in Nairobi. A new report says most small businesses don‘t see their second birthday. [PHOTO: BY: FELIX KAVII/Standard]

Close to half a million small enterprises in Kenya die annually as the business environment in the country gets bumpy.

According to a survey released Monday this week by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), approximately 400,000 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) did not get to celebrate their second anniversary in the last five years raising concern over sustainability of this critical sector.