Over 5,000 youths from Kiambu County have benefited from a Sh1.3 billion Jiinue Fund, launched mid last year by the former Governor Dr. James Nyoro.

The fund which is a partnership between Kiambu County Government and KCB Bank was launched to help unlock the business potential of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the county.

The deal was to ensure that youths, women and people living with disabilities have the ability to access low-interest loans to grow their businesses and improve their livelihoods.

Kiambu Youth Sub-County Officer Kenneth Kimani told KNA that the residents access the loans at six per cent interest rate instead of the average rate of 13 per cent.

He added that the youths also qualify for the loan according to one’s capacity and capability to pay and access the loans through KCB Bank.

‘Qualification for the loan depends on one’s capacity and capability to repay. The interest rate is low at 6 percent compared to the normal bank rate of 13 percent, which is quite high’, explained the Youth Officer.

Kimani also stated that they are implementing initiatives to sensitize the youths and residents on the know-how to utilize the funds by conducting training classes on fund management before disbursing the funds.

‘We are introducing a business development school where before we give you the funds, we train and teach on book keeping, record keeping and also on financial management’, he said.

The Youth Officer also confirmed that they had given out a total of Sh250million before last year’s August General Elections and have been following up on the beneficiaries to check whether they are benefiting from the funds.

Kimani further said that to ensure relevance, the county government is currently reviving a slaughter house in Uplands for Pigs and are encouraging the young people to apply for the funds to start pig farming as the market will be readily available for them.

Source: Kenya News Agency