Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry has started a recruitment campaign to increase its membership to 300,000.
KNCCI chief executive officer George Kiondo said currently the membership standards at 20,000.
He said they were offering discounted membership rates to encourage traders to join in and benefit from the vast variety of opportunities offered by the chamber to grow their businesses.
Through the campaign, the chamber hopes to recruit 100,000 direct members every year for a period of three years.
Kiondo noted that the group that was founded by the first President Jomo Kenyatta in 1965 also includes indirect members who join as associations.
The Jua Kali association, for example, has a membership of more than 3 million people, he said.
Kiondo who was speaking on Friday at Ihura stadium in Murang’a town during the launch of the branch strategic plan said the county is well endowed with wealth as many of the country’s biggest traders come from the county.
“This should translate into a lot of benefits for local traders. We want to see Murang’a growing and it has been dormant for some time,” he said.
He acknowledged that the issue of finances has hindered the growth of many Small-Medium Enterprises due to the high credit services offered by banks.
The SMEs forms 80 percent of the chamber’s membership which is why it has entered a deal with Equity Bank to offer low rate loans to its members.
Kiondo added that they are also in talks with some foreign corporations that have expressed willingness to offer even cheaper loans.
“These loans will provide a chance to small traders like vendors to expand their businesses,” Kiondo said.
The Murang’a Chapter, he added, has about 1,000 members that is far below its capacity considering its high number of traders.
He urged business people to take advantage of the chamber to get access to wider markets and get a platform to engage on the challenges they face in their trade.
The chamber also offers capacity building to empower traders with the skills on how to efficiently manage their businesses.
“Provision of finances and sourcing of products can help them increase their profitability and that is why we are signing Memorandums of Understanding with the Council of Governors to create an opportunity for members to trade with county governments,” he said.
The Chamber’s Central region coordinator George Karanja on his part said the low membership has been a challenge to its operations.
Karanja noted that apathy caused by poor leadership in the chamber in the past has prompted many members to keep off.
“Business have not doing well and the traders could not see how being members of the chamber was helping,” he said.
But the new leadership has the connections and the strategy that will help unlock the business potential in members.
