Africa: Small Businesses

(asked on 22nd June 2015) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to implement her Department's Start-Up initiative in (a) Ghana, (b) Kenya and (c) South Africa.


Answered by
Grant Shapps Portrait
Grant Shapps
Secretary of State for Defence
This question was answered on 29th June 2015

The Start Up! Initiative was an idea worked up by DFID staff to improve the provision of financing and capacity building activities for early-stage firms in sub-Saharan Africa. Last year a decision was taken by the Department not to take the programme forward to implementation as a multi-country initiative. However, although the multi-country programme is not going ahead, the DFID country offices in Kenya and Ghana continue to work on providing direct support to entrepreneurs, particularly in the agribusiness and clean energy sectors.

In Ghana, DFID is supporting a programme to equip micro and small enterprises with the necessary skills and resources to improve their business plans and internal operations. The programme provides grant funding, mentoring and business development services to 500 of the most promising firms. In Kenya, DFID has helped to launch the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre (KCIC) to support the development of innovative ‘clean-tech’ businesses and technologies. The KCIC provides technologists, entrepreneurs and new ventures with technical assistance for capacity building and access to early-stage financing to overcome market barriers, with the aim of rapidly scaling and deploying innovative products and services.

Reticulating Splines