Nairobi county awarded for supporting small businesses

Nairobi County staff walks past the dais  at Uhuru Park with a wheelbarrow after Governor Johnson Sakaja  launched the start of their contract on September 10, 2023. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

Nairobi City County has won the category of the “Most Supportive County” during the just concluded Small Business Awards 2023.

The Small Business Awards recognizes and celebrates women, youth and persons with disability owned small businesses in Kenya that have demonstrated exceptional performance and impacted society and organisations that support them to thrive.

The Small Business Awards is an initiative of Biashara Africa, a member of the United Nations. Global Compact is a community of Women and Youth Owned Small Businesses that champion digital and financial inclusion with a goal to empower and accelerate small businesses to create sustainable livelihoods and employment opportunities.

The nomination and subsequent winning the category of Most Supportive County reflects the outstanding initiatives, programmes, and policies that Nairobi City County through the leadership of Governor Johnson Sakaja has implemented to empower and uplift small businesses and startups.

On hand to receive the award on behalf of the governor was County Chief Officer for Digital Economy and Startups, Victor Otieno who spelled out plans of supporting digitization of SMEs.

Mr Otieno said they will put more emphasis on informal manufactures through creative ways working with various value chain actors such as the Kenya National Federation of Jua Kali Association (KNFJKA), International Labor Organization (ILO) and Biashara Africa among others 

"We want to support the informal manufactures through innovative approaches such as local and export market aggregations combined with decentralized manufacturing working with several stakeholders," he said.

In attendance was Director for e-learning, Elizabeth Ndung’u, representatives from Equity Bank, Deloitte, Hustler Fund secretariat, Global compact, SMEs from over 30 counties among others.