County Receives Development Support From Stanbic Kenya Foundation

Stanbic Bank Kenya and the Stanbic Kenya Foundation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Meru County Government. As a bank through the foundation it continues to forge solid collaborations with the Government both at National and County level to help drive the development agenda in the counties and institutions across the country in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This marks yet another milestone for the bank and Foundation as they continue to empower communities and position businesses for success under the Foundations Accelerate program which was rolled out this year.

This engagement is anchored on the support to the Micros Small and Medium enterprises by way of providing requisite skills, catalytic funding and access to markets for the various sectors and value chains that Stanbic and the County Government of Meru jointly choose to work with.

A key objective outlined in the partnership agreement is to ensure that both the County Government and the Stanbic Kenya Foundation collaborate in their efforts to identify areas of growth and build the capacity of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs’). A secondary objective highlighted is to ensure that these MSME’s receive digital skills training, access to finance, and access to job markets.

Speaking during the signing ceremony, Governor, County Government of Meru, H.E Hon. Kiraitu Murungi said in line with the agreement signed between Ministry of Industrialization Trade and Enterprise Development, the engagement is anchored on the support to the MSMEs by way of providing requisite skills, catalytic funding and access to markets for the various sectors and value chains.

The event was graced by Ministry of Industrialization Trade and Enterprise Development Chief Administrative Secretary Mr. Lawrence Karanja.

Meru County has been recognized for its achievements over the years in facilitating sustainable development and wealth creation through commerce, technological innovations and industrialization while leveraging on skilled human resources, agriculture, wildlife, biodiversity and cultural heritage.

Giving his remarks during the signing event, Stanbic Bank Chief Executive, Mr. Charles Mudiwa said, “We are committed to forging strategic partnerships with both National and County Government to drive Kenya’s economic growth and are honored that we are now strategic partners with the Meru County Government.

Our social, economic and environmental initiatives piloted by our Foundation through the Accelerate Program, are addressing a significant skills gap in the country which was also exacerbated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic which saw a number of people lose their jobs as they were not equipped to adapt to the changing environment.”

The Stanbic Kenya Foundation has already implemented different interventions under the Accelerate program to support MSMEs. These include capacity building through offering digital skilling programs and entrepreneurial training programs and are also working closely with government Biashara Training Centres to roll this out.

The Stanbic Kenya Foundation plans to distribute over 400 computers and laptops to facilitate the learning program which seeks to equip 50,000 MSE’s with digital skills by the end of the year 2021.

Speaking during the ceremony, Stanbic Kenya Foundation Head, Pauline Mbaya noted, “Meru County Government is one of our strategic partners, and we are excited to collaborate and empower the people of Meru. The Stanbic Kenya Foundation seeks to create job opportunities and steer enterprise development, financial inclusion, education, health, Corporate Social Investments (CSI) and Corporate Volunteerism.

Our expected impact is in social-economic growth for small entrepreneurs, environment and climate mitigation, preventive healthcare and cross-border trade and investments.”

The Stanbic Kenya Foundation has also made great strides under its core pillars. On the healthcare front, the Foundation partnered with strategic private sector partners as a COVID-19 response, and successfully donated 192 Ventilators worth Kshs. 147 million to the Ministry of Health, two of which were received by Mombasa County.

In addition, the Foundation has rolled out a number of cancer screening initiatives in partnership with the Kenya Health Federation and have also distributed PPEs and hand-washing stations to underserved populations.