The key to unlocking the potential of East Africa’s small businesses lies in taking financing and support directly to them, rather than waiting for them to walk into a bank, said Absa Bank Kenya during a panel discussion at the 25th EAC MSMEs Trade Fair.
The theme was titled “Unlocking access to finance and markets: Key enablers for scaling MSMEs in the region” at an event which took place from Nov 10-11, 2025.
Present at the event was MSME Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya, who championed Kenya’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
“MSMEs contribute about 30% to Kenya’s GDP and create over 90% of jobs, yet still face challenges such as limited market access, financing gaps, and climate-related disruptions.”
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Elizabeth Wasunna-Ochwa, Absa Bank Kenya’s Director of Business Banking, outlined the institution’s evolving approach to supporting small and medium enterprises.
According to Wasunna, banks are moving beyond traditional methods to engage with SMEs more directly.
“The biggest thing that we have done differently… is to say, let’s have conversations with SMEs, not in our offices, but in the grounds wherever they are,” she said.
She pointed to two critical shifts, a push towards unsecured lending, backed by credit guarantee funds to de-risk the process for banks and a focus on providing business knowledge and training, not just capital.
“There are two basic principles that we must be able to embrace to ensure that we are walking the journey with SMEs. One is to provide sustainable financing for SMEs, and two is to make sure that SMEs have the non-financial support for them to truly grow into corporates of the future.”
SME were also challenged to integrate into larger corporate value chains and leveraging digital tools to access new markets, echoing regional initiatives like Burundi’s upcoming national e-commerce strategy.
