Gulf African Bank and African Guarantee Fund (AGF) have partnered to fund women owned enterprises and green businesses.
Support will target women-owned enterprises and green businesses involved in renewable energy and eco-friendly products.
This, the bank said will help it scale up its activities by ensuring that it gets collateral to cover loans and improve SMEs loans in Kenya.
The partnership is the first Shari’ah compliant credit risk guarantee scheme in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Gulf African Bank’s MD Anuj Mediratta said that the partnership with AGF for a special credit scheme will enable SMEs easily get loans especially for those who lack collateral.
"Through this partnership, we are going to finance more SMEs thereby allowing them to play their role in driving Kenya’s economic growth," said Mediratta.
The partnership is also set to help Gulf African Bank support women-owned enterprises and green businesses involved in renewable energy and eco-friendly products.
It will also align with Shari’ah principles and contributes to climate action and SDG 17 for sustainable development.
"Our partnership will promote enterprise growth in Kenya by enabling access to quality and affordable credit for SMEs that qualify for credit facilities sought, but lack adequate collateral," said African Guarantee Fund's CEO, Jules Ngankam.
The agreement received support from the African Development Bank's Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), boosting financing for women-owned SMEs.
