Women Fund partners with Kebs to raise quality of SME products

Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) is collaborating with Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) and other organisations to provide support for women running small and medium-sized business to standardise and improve the quality of their products.

The partnership has seen 13,500 beneficiaries trained by WEF receive technical guidance to improve their products, ensuring they meet industry standards.

Once the products are standardised, the women are eligible to apply for certification, for which the fund pays a subsidised rate of Sh5,800. As a result their products will qualify for the KEBS Diamond mark of quality which allows them to access local and international markets.

“A key mandate for WEF is to provide business support services including linkages for the women entrepreneurs to improve on the quality of their products and access markets,” said WEF Chief Executive Charles Mwirigi.

“This was one of several strategic partnerships we have entered into to support our beneficiaries.”

“Over the last five years, our clients have benefited from this partnership which has enabled them to improve their products to industry standards. This includes handling, product quality, packaging and preservation,” added Eng Mwirigi.

As a result of the partnership the agency has disbursed over Sh150 million to fund beneficiary businesses in the manufacturing and processing sector since the fund was set up in 2012, which is expected to increase significantly as the number of SMEs venturing into manufacturing continues to grow.

The funding cuts across numerous ventures including food processing, making of construction materials and welding.