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A yearlong project sponsored by TechnoServe and Moody’s foundation is set to train 1,000 duka owners across the country in finance and business management skills.
Citi Foundation, MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth, and Elea Foundation, are also supporting the project.
Dukas supply up to 80 per cent of consumer goods, mostly to low-income communities in Kenya, giving a vital service those larger retailers and wholesalers cannot offer in a market fragmented with high transaction costs.
The Smart Duka project will include two cohorts of 500 shopkeepers each, and will have a two-month mobilisation phase and a three-month training phase.
It is expected that the training will increase profits by more than 30 per cent and help more than one-third of shops access finance from various lending institutions.
Dukas face myriad challenges including restocking, which requires the owner to travel to a supplier with cash for purchases. This is an expensive and time consuming venture, and results in periods of closure, limited inventory, stock depletion and ultimately relatively high prices for purchasers and low incomes for the store keepers.
Overcoming these obstacles through shop management processes, accounting, marketing, financing and technology presents an opportunity to unleash a wave of growth that would benefit low-income families with a wider range of goods at more affordable prices.
According to Alice Waweru, the regional programme manager, micro entrepreneurs make everyday products accessible to low-income communities and hold the potential to improve hundreds of thousands of lives, but with limited business skills.
“This project will provide targeted support which will enable micro retailers to reduce costs, increase profits and drive economic growth in their communities,” she said.
So far, the initiative has helped shops access over $190,000 (Sh19.1 million) in credit.