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"helping Small Business Owners Scale the Steps to Business Success"

"helping Small Business Owners Scale the Steps to Business Success"
Symbol of Hope for Small Businesses in East Africa

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) holds a Special Prime Minister Round Table to look at the State of the Economy

The need for a resilient Kenyan Economy takes priority as KEPSA holds a Special Prime Minister Round Table on the State of the Economy in Nairobi - February 29, 2012

Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) today held a Special Prime Minister Round Table to look at the State of the Economy. The discussions focused on the four thematic areas that have been identified as key factors that affect the Economy:
• Cost of Living
• Employment & Productivity
• Competitiveness and Regional Integration
• Trade and Investment

the Prime Minister assured the Private Sector that the government is equally concerned about the state of the Mombasa Port which affects many aspects of doing business. In addition to the ongoing Rapid Results Initiative, a special team will be dispatched to the Port to ensure that the congestion is cleared and put in place lasting solutions perennial inefficiencies. He was categorical that the government will solve the operational challenges at the Port of Mombasa to justify and give credence to constructing another Port in Lamu.

The various recommendations and commitments arrived at on the various thematic areas will be consolidated and made public in a week’s time.
The Special Prime Minister Round Table had more than 200 participants drawn from the government, the development partners, the diplomatic community and the Private Sector.

Monday, February 6, 2012

MBAO PENSION SCHEME

The Mbao (Kshs 20-a-day) or National Jua Kali Pension scheme which targets jua kali (or informal sector workers) artisans was developed by the National Federation of Kenya Jua Kali Associations and the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA).

The individual pension plan is registered by both the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and RBA as Blue MSMEs Jua Kali Individual Retirement Benefit Scheme, which therefore allows it to run retirement plans for individual members.

The Mbao scheme is a voluntary pension savings program aimed to help people save for retirement, with the name ‘Mbao’ derived from the minimum Kshs 20 daily contribution that registered make to offer them a reliable income when they eventually retire from their jobs or businesses.

The common characteristics of the Jua Kali sector are that most are small-scale operations with individual or family ownership; players in the sector have no access to institutional credit facilities or other support and protection mechanisms; experience seasonal incomes and workers are generally not issued with pay slips.

Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA) holds a SME Stake Holders Workshop in Kampala, Uganda.

TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) which is going through the process of identifying opportunities to provide SME support held a one day “SME Stake Holders Workshop” on 30th January 2012 at Hotel Africana in Kampala, Uganda.

The objective of the workshop was to identify solutions to SME challenges that lie within Trademark East Africa's mandate and to identify potential partners for the same .the discussions covered SME constraints (internal and external) that Small Businesses face in the EAC region.

The specific purpose of the workshop was to build TMEA's understanding of support available to SMEs and to identify gaps where TMEA can intervene as well as possible partners.

TMEA is a not for profit organization which promotes regional trade and economic integration in the East African Community by working closely with the East African Community (EAC), institutions, National Governments, Business and the Civil Society Organizations and has presence in the five EAC Partner States

The Workshop was facilitated by DMT Consultants