Did you know that at least 1,000 SMEs close shop in Kenya daily? Did you know that 80 percent of SMEs who shut down do so in the first 6 months of setting up the business?
Well, stats from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) show that at least 450 SMEs die annually in Kenya due to various economic challenges.
Putting the numbers by KNBS into perspective, it means at least 30,000 SMEs are shutting down monthly, and at least 1,000 daily.
The number were released in a period of 5 years to 2016 where at least 1.2 million SMEs had shut down. A lot has changed since then.
When Covid-19 came knocking, millions of businesses shut down overnight and millions of Kenyans lost their jobs. Even as the government tries to “open up the economy”, many businesses have nothing to “open up to.”
President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the release of at least 50 billion shillings to help SMEs recover during this pandemic. Since the announcement was made, it has never been established where the money went.
The SME sector is key to the economy of Kenya. It employs at least 86 percent of the population of Kenya and contributes at least 45 percent to the GDP.
