SPECIAL REPORT: Growing Enterprises in Kenya from Micro- to Small to Medium-sized, With Help from SAM

Since ECLOF Kenya opened its doors in 1994, more and more of its clients – mostly group borrowers in rural areas – have been growing their businesses beyond the bounds of “micro.” Mary Munyiri, the CEO of the MFI, knew her organization had to find a way to grow with them. When she attended SAM in 2017, she benefitted from sessions on topics such as “Challenges Facing Actors Financing SMEs” and “Key Players of SME Growth: Incubators, Accelerators and Business Angels.”

Ms Munyiri says, “During SAM, my understanding was enhanced regarding the fact that SMEs are price sensitive, and they also require longer loan terms compared with the shorter term products offered to smaller enterprises. This information was very useful when our organization was developing a loan product for this category of customers.”

Since then, ECLOF Kenya has been growing its SME portfolio. Ms Munyiri explains, “We have developed a product that is now able to take care of the customers that are upgrading from micro- and small enterprise to the SME level.” She adds, “The institution’s commitment is to start by growing its SME portfolio to 5 percent and thereafter sustaining it at about 10 percent.”

ECLOF Kenya has 44 service outlets and a portfolio equivalent to USD 11.9 million outstanding to 58,000 borrowers. Two percent of its portfolio is made up of individual loans, which have an average size of USD 3,557. The MFI is a member of Switzerland-based ECLOF International, a nonprofit network of 13 MFIs on four continents. The network was established in 1946 as the Ecumenical Church Loan Fund.

ADA, an NGO based in Luxembourg, co-organizes SAM every two years with the support of Luxembourg’s Ministry for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs. The SAM steering committee members are: ADA, Luxembourg’s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the Microfinance African Institutions Network and the African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association. The Fédération des APSFD de l’Union Economique et Monétaire Ouest Africaine is about to join the steering committee as well. We invite you to read more about SAM at http://www.microfinance-africa.org/.

This vignette is part of a sponsored series demonstrating the value of SAM (the French acronym for African Microfinance Week), a major conference dedicated to financial inclusion in Africa. The first three SAMs were held in Arusha, Tanzania, in 2013; Dakar, Senegal, in 2015; and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2017. The next SAM will take place in 2019 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso!

The goal of SAM is to provide a unified platform for addressing issues facing microfinance in Africa by bringing together investors, MFIs, researchers, banks, networks, innovators, governments and other stakeholders.

The 2017 SAM hosted 700 participants from 58 (mostly African) countries, including representatives of 200 MFIs; 25 exhibitors at the Innovation Fair; and 26 investors, who made 170 MFI contacts at the Investor’s Fair. The proceedings also included conference sessions presented by 60 speakers plus a menu of 20 training programs.

Additional Resources

How Paidek Has Leveraged the SAM Conference to Diversify Its Funding Sources and Microfinance Product Line-up
https://www.microcapital.org/special-report-how-paidek-has-leveraged-the-sam-conference-to-diversify-its-funding-sources-and-microfinance-product-line-up/

How Oikocredit Leveraged SAM (Semaine Africaine de la Microfinance) to Expand Its Risk-management Program
https://www.microcapital.org/special-report-how-oikocredit-leveraged-sam-semaine-africaine-de-la-microfinance-to-expand-its-risk-management-program/

SAM
http://www.microfinance-africa.org/

MicroCapital coverage of SAM
http://www.microcapital.org/category/semaine-africaine-de-la-microfinance-sam/