KCB Foundation has announced that it has received Ksh. 10 billion ($100 million) in funding from the MasterCard Foundation for the 2Jiajiri programme. The funds will go towards for scaling up its 2jiajiri programme that seeks to empower youth entrepreneurs for job creation.
The funding were extended under the MasterCard Foundation’s Young Africa Works programme which was launched in Nairobi. The funds will be for 5 years (2019 -2024) and is slated to create 1 million direct and 500,000 indirect jobs under the 2jiajiri programme.
Young Africa Works in Kenya is a public-private partnership between MasterCard Foundation, the Government of Kenya and the private sector. It will enable five million young people to access work through expanding technical, vocational and work readiness skills that are critical to economic growth. KCB Foundation is one among seven beneficiaries in Kenya of this ambitious Ksh. 30 billion (US$300 million) commitment by the MasterCard Foundation in 10 African countries to grow micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
The programme will scale-up the existing 2jiajiri programme by providing technical training, Business Development Services, Access to finance and linkages to structured markets through an ecosystem approach.
“For 2jiajiri, the initiative will focus on providing technical training to 114,000 beneficiaries from Micro and Small Enterprises in the three economic sectors of Agriculture, Manufacturing and Construction in Kenya, in line with the Government’s Big 4 Agenda,” said KCB Group CEO Joshua Oigara.
“One of the priorities this year is to drive business growth while contributing to the economic growth of all the markets we operate in. At the same time, we have focused on delivering impact to our communities through the KCB Foundation,” he added.
Under the partnership, KCB Foundation will collaborate with over 20 partners in the agribusiness, manufacturing and construction sectors.
This programme will be implemented in the three phases of 2jiajiri that encompass technical training, incubation where enterprises will access capital and Business Development Services and formal linkages to mainstream markets for the entrepreneur and labour markets for the skillers.
2jiajiri was launched in March 2016 and it provides technical and vocational training, and access to financial services. These include start-up and working capital, enterprise management support and formal linkages to customers and suppliers in the larger market that ensure long-term sustainability.