Uasin Gishu Governor Dr. Jonathan Bii on Monday hosted a delegation from Investing in Young Businesses in Africa (IYBA) on possible collaboration that will see young and women-led county entrepreneurs benefit from funding and capacity building, creation of wealth and job opportunities.

IYBA is a team Europe Initiative that helps young businesses and entrepreneurs in Africa, especially women, to launch, consolidate and grow sustainable, strong and inclusive businesses and create jobs.

Governor Bii noted that his administration welcomes the initiative adding; ” It is always my wish to see my people especially the youth and women benefit from such programs that support the growth of enterprises.”

The governor further said most women’s groups end up not being sustainable and the need for IYBA to work on resource mobilization is important.

He called on the team to consider sourcing entrepreneurship skills from the Gen-Zs once they initiate capacity building in the ward levels for them to benefit.

County Executive Committee Member for Trade and Cooperatives Martha Cheruto added that her docket will provide maximum support to see entrepreneurs across the county benefit. She noted that GIZ being part of this initiative, helped the county in the implementation of one of their projects where SMEs were trained on business resilience and growth strategies in conjunction with Stanbic Bank.

According to IYBA head of delegation Luis Bosch, Europe Union(EU) is focusing on increasing the development work in Kenya and Africa at large noting that they chose Uasin Gishu following the success story that was done by Stanbic Bank.

Luis further said they are focusing on four areas including improving access to finance, finding solutions to persistent issues, strengthening organizations that support entrepreneurs and implementing the initiative at the country level.

Chief of Staff Nicholas Chepkwony, County Economic Advisor Philip Melly, Trade Chief Officer CPA Victorine Kapkiai, Directors Isaac Lagat (Trade), David Kebenei (Licensing), Irene Kapting’ei (Industrialization), Margaret Aiyabei (Tourism) and Joan Mutai (Inua Biashara) were among present.