Over 200 budding start-ups in Mombasa empowered through finance, tax compliance literacy

Over 200 budding businesses in Mombasa in waste management and eco-tourism have received negotiated tax compliance to help them thrive in their businesses.

The businesses that displayed their products at Mama Ngina Drive met with financial institutions, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Kenya Bureau of Standards (KBS), and market off-takers.

According to Bosco Juma, Executive Director at Big Ship Environmental Conservation, oftentimes, there is a lot of mixed taxation happening in the tourism space because of the county permit, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) tax, TRF, and all of them affect the small businesses that are starting.

“So, what we do differently is negotiate compliance with the service providers here. We try to bridge the challenge by linking with TRA/F, KRA, KBS, who can help us make it easy for young people to thrive in the business, especially in tourism and waste management,” said Juma.

The 200 start-ups form part of over 1200 youths who have been undergoing a four-month training under the Bluebiz program.

Juma said that Mombasa has over 45 to almost 50 percent of youths unemployed.

The Director said the free training funded by Techno-serve has supported over 1200 youths in the eco-tourism value chain and waste management value chain.

He said that the youths will get a mentorship programme and networking opportunity by connecting them to off-takers who can hold their hand and walk with them in the long-term.

“We are working with the tourism regulatory authority, hotels, organisations,  and KCB, NCBA, who will support them,” said Juma.

The Director said the programme mostly focuses on women on the Coast because they are not getting opportunities, especially when it comes to penetrating the tourism space.

Juma said the program focused on tourism because it is a very important sector with products that are yet to be unpacked.

“We have brought over 200 young people who are exhibiting their products, and there are a lot of linkages to the markets and finance to ensure they can make their products market-friendly and market-ready,” said Juma.

According to Dickson Kimathi, a briquette maker, the programme has alleviated and helped youths in Likoni to self-employ and package their products to reach a wide market.

“I thank Big Ship and Techno-serve for the training and programme that has benefited us. We have been taught business skills and started producing briquettes that we sell in the community. Through this initiative, we foresee a great market. We can now employ ourselves and grow,” said Kimathi.

Big ship’ Programme Coordinator, Evelyn Omondi, said that the Bluebiz programme has been implemented for the last two years, with three cohorts graduating.

She said the young entrepreneurs will get knowledge on how to get certification from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KBS) on their products, brand, and market them while also getting linkage to financial institutions

She said the expo provided the opportunity for young people to come and experience industry players in the blue economy ecosystem.

“We have regulatory body institutions like KBS who will guide them on how to get certification, we also have market actor system to help them in branding and marketing, and financial institutions to fund the youthful initiatives,” said Omondi.

She said the programme is focused on women, because 80 per cent are involved in fisheries, eco-tourism, waste management, and happy culture, and all the activities within the blue economy initiative.

Immaculate Muthoni, a worker at Techno-serve, said the Bluebiz programme is in partnership with the MasterCard foundation whose mandate is to equip over 15000 youths in the blue economy to ensure they have fulfilling and dignified work.

Athman Risasi, a trainer under the Bluebiz programme, said they have helped some of the youths to form groups and register for business licences and learnt how to package their products to increase sales.