KCB Group and Safaricom Business have launched a one-stop-solution platform to meet the needs of Small and Medium Enterprises. The platform dubbed “Biashar@ Smart†seeks to address common challenges faced by SMEs through bespoke solutions.
The KCB Group CEO, Mr. Joshua Oigara, said ‘ Biashar@ Smart is a game-changer for the market given that the SME sector employs 7.5 million people and accounts for 80% of the employment market while contributing over 92% of the new jobs created annually according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics’.
“Biashar@ Smart is the Safaricom Business and KCB Group’s brand promise which seeks to identify with, empower, connect and grow SMEs in Kenya, through partnerships, befitting propositions and empowerment,†said Safaricom’s Chief Executive Officer, Bob Collymore, during the launch.
Safaricom and KCB are also going to facilitate capacity building initiatives, preferential propositions and loyalty programmes that will radically transform how SME’s do business. Biashara Tips and Biashara Club will soon be launched. They will also aid in opening up networking and new business opportunities for SME’s.
Safaricom’s propositions that will be offered to the SMEs include Zidisha Biashara, Biashara Smart Classifieds, Biashara Tips and OneConnect Express. They will complement the existing offerings such as Cloud Software as a Service (Cloud SaaS) which offers human resources, accounting and payroll applications online to SME’s, saving them the cost of buying the software, as well as domain hosting and professional email services.
KCB Group brings to the table flexible products and services among them advisory services, KCB SME Banking, competitively-priced KCB SME Loans, insurance, online banking registration, pre-paid cards and credit cards which will help unlock the potential of the entrepreneurs in the rural and urban areas to scale up and grow.
Commending Safaricom Business and the KCB Group on the launch of Biashar@ Smart, the Cabinet Secretary for Industrialisation and Trade, Adan Mohamed noted that SMEs risk collapsing if they do not embrace ICT and innovation to make their businesses more efficient.
KCB and Safaricom have previously partnered to launch KCB M-Benki, a unique bank account from KCB that lets to transact from their mobile phones, and in an initiative that saw M-PESA agents to access a KSh1.5 billion unsecured loan facility to finance operations.