Ten small and medium enterprises will receive up to Ksh 100.8 million in funding through E4Impact business accelerator programme.
The SMEs drawn from organization’s Entrepreneurship Centre were selected after undertaking a 12 months training programme on how to maximize their their ventures.
Through E4Impact’s investment vehicle, E4Invest that provides catalytic capital to high-potential startups, three enterprises received a total of Ksh 34 million (€225,000) in investment.
E4Impact says seven companies have also benefited from Ksh 66.7 million (€440,000) in funding commitments.
“The critical areas that are cross cutting for all ventures are ability to raise more capital because we have dedicated a bit of funds to go towards the incubation. Here they just need a bit of funding for tat proof of concept and here we are funding from €25,000 to €50,000 but the acceleration cohort actually access up to €100,000 of investment. All funds disbursed to benefiting SMEs,” said E4Impact Entrepreneurship Director David Cheboryot.
According to Cheboryot, the organization adopted venture building approach to enable SMEs attract funding.
“We were very generic in terms of support then overtime when we got to cohort 3, cohort 4, we realized that there has to be a different way of supporting ventures. This means identifying one of two challenges each and every venture has and for the entire period you just work on solving those challenges of that firm,” said Cheboryot.
The latest cohort saw 32 small businesses in agri-food, fashion and leather, renewable energy, and the green economy sector.
Additionally, seven early-stage startups completed the incubator programme which is designed to nurture high-growth potential ventures.
“For us it’s important to continue supporting the work of E4Impact and the partners in the accelerator programme are doing. We really look forward to seeing the seed that we have planted together blossom,” said Valeria Buoninfante, Deputy Director Italian Agency for Development and Corporation (AICS) Nairobi.
The training focused on scaling businesses for investment readiness and market expansion.
The graduation ceremony also featured product exhibition as well as networking sessions with potential investors and partners.
E4Impact which is funded by the Italian government under the Italian Agency for Development and Corporation (AICS) says so far the accelerator and incubator programs have supported over 200 enterprises across key sectors, including agribusiness, manufacturing, renewable energy, healthcare, and the creative industries.
