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Theme: Women and Youth in Nation Building – From Ideas to Impact

Date: Thursday 28th August 2025

Venue: Nakuru Box, 6th Floor, D&D House, Nakuru City, Kenya

Time: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM EAT

Biashara Pawa Nakuru Dialogue: Empowering Women and Youth from Ideas to Impact

On August 25th, 2025, over 150 participants gathered in Nakuru County for the first event in the Biashara Pawa dialogue event, held under the inspiring theme: “Women and Youth in Nation Building – From Ideas to Impact.” This vibrant convening brought together a powerful mix of voices; women and youth role model entrepreneurs from under-represented sectors, county government leaders, local entrepreneurs, business associations, academia, ecosystem partners, and community-based organizations – creating a dynamic space for connection, learning, and co-creation. The event also acknowledged 25 role models who are boldly stepping into spaces, daring to speak, to build, to break ceilings and to model what inclusive entrepreneurship looks like.

The event was hosted by NakuruBox, a leading entrepreneurship eco-system actor in Nakuru County, and key partners Responsible Business Consulting and Kaizen Consultancy implementers in SNV Kenya’s initiative under Investing in Young Businesses in Africa – Supporting Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development (IYBA-SEED). The Biashara Pawa project focuses on enabling women and youth entrepreneurs in typically male-dominated sectors such as: Manufacturing & Engineering, Green and Circular Economy, Agriculture and Agribusiness, Technology, Financial Services, Infrastructure development, Blue economy, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

From Ideas to Impact

The event opened with welcome remarks from George Wayne, Founder Nakuru Box, followed by a stirring keynote from Nduta Ndirangu of SNV Kenya, who reminded participants that while every successful business begins with a dream, it takes courage, community, and consistency to make that dream impactful. She emphasized the importance of ecosystem collaboration, access to capital, mentorship, and breaking down the barriers that often prevent women and youth from scaling their ventures.

The event’s panel session provided candid, practical insights and perspectives from role model entrepreneurs, investor/donors, business associations that:

• Explored the entrepreneurial journey – from idea generation, startup, growth, to sustainability
• Shared real-life experiences and stories that reflect opportunities, roadblocks, and resilience
• Gathered practical insights from different ecosystem actors – entrepreneurs, government, support organisations, and private sector – on what works, what doesn’t, and what’s needed

The panelists included:

• Susan Njuguna from Kenya Association of Manufacturers
• Don Gaitano from Equity Group Foundation
• Onesmus Ruttoh from Reno AgriFoods
• Regina Watetu from Daraja360

The panel discussion was skillfully moderated by Susan Njoroge from Responsible Business Consulting, who guided the conversation with insight and clarity. Charity Mbithe from Kaizen Consultancy ensured a seamless flow and engaging atmosphere in the capacity of the MC.

They county government leaders provided an overview on the county governments efforts and initiatives to provide much needed capability-building, access to capital, and other resources to spark and enable entrepreneurship in Nakuru county. The leaders included three County Executive Committee Members (CECMs) from the ministry of trade, agriculture, and education.

The participants then held deep-dive sector-specific breakout discussions on:

• Challenges women and youth entrepreneurs face in the sector
• Providing practical, local solutions to these challenges
• Identifying key enabling actions needed from ecosystem actors

What stood out was the engaging and practical multi-stakeholder and ecosystem-wide dialogue to share experiences, and explore solutions and opportunities to shared challenges.

The event also provided space for entrepreneurs to build networks and connect directly with government and ecosystem partners.

Fostering Local Transformation

The Nakuru dialogue successfully demonstrated that when women and youth are given the platform, voice, and networks, they solve for solutions and strive to uplift their communities. The Biashara Pawa approach – placing underrepresented entrepreneurs at the center of local economic conversations – is proving a powerful model for inclusive growth.

As one participant put it, “This was not just a talk shop – it was a room full of pawa, action, and shared purpose.”

This is only the beginning – as Nakuru continues to showcase and recognize women and youth role models in male-dominated sectors and builds on this first event to continue ecosystem conversations that seek to enable women and youth entrepreneurship for county and nation-building.

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Summary

In Kisumu County, the promise of inclusive economic growth remains constrained by structural barriers. While women and youth constitute approximately 70% of the population, their participation in high-value sectors, such as manufacturing, infrastructure, and the blue economy, remains marginal.

This underrepresentation is not merely a social equity issue but a systemic economic leakage.

As highlighted in the BiasharaPawa Dialogue, the inability of these primary demographics to scale seed-stage ventures is caused by a profound dual barrier: a critical deficit in advanced financial literacy and the prohibitive nature of traditional, collateral-based lending.

For executive leaders and policymakers, the growth opportunity lies in recognizing that Kisumu’s sustainable development is tethered to the surgical removal of these structural anchors.

Sustainable development in the county increasingly depends on creating an enabling environment where early-stage entrepreneurs can access knowledge, financing pathways, and supportive policy frameworks.

While government funds exist, a fear of bureaucracy and a persistent skills gap between academic curricula and industry needs have created a growth ceiling for emerging entrepreneurs. To unlock the unrealized economic potential of 70% of the populace, the ecosystem must move from generalized capacity building toward specific, high-impact interventions, particularly the institutionalization of collateral-free capital, the integration of entrepreneurship into the formal education system, and the deployment of Entrepreneurial Support Organizations (ESOs) as vital navigators between grassroots innovators and institutional resources.

Convened under IYBA-SEED, the BiasharaPawa Dialogue marked the first in a series of three engagements designed to foster collaboration among ecosystem actors. The dialogues aim to generate practical insights, strengthen institutional coordination, and progressively build a resilient and inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystem capable of supporting long-term enterprise growth.

Key Insights and Barriers to Growth in Kisumu

The BiasharaPawa Dialogue in Kisumu served as a high-fidelity diagnostic tool for the region’s entrepreneurial health. While the spirit of innovation is palpable among the over 80 pre-seed and seed entrepreneurs who attended, it was clear that the primary barrier to scaling is not a lack of ambition, but a profound disconnect between existing resources and their intended beneficiaries.

1. Finance and Financial Literacy Issues

Data from FinAccess shows a gap in financial literacy among youth and women, with targeted mentorship being a critical need. While government-backed instruments, such as the County Enterprise Fund and the Women and Youth Funds, are technically available, a pervasive fear of heavy interest and collateral requirements limits entrepreneurs’ ability to structure bankable proposals or engage confidently with investors. For many women and youth, the requirement for traditional collateral remains a non-starter. The dialogue highlighted a critical need for collateral-free capital and the adoption of table banking (chamas) as a de-risking mechanism that bypasses the need for title deeds or vehicle logbooks.

1. Capacity Building and Mentorship

Growth is not just a function of capital; it is a product of capacity. Many emerging enterprises operate with strong ideas but limited managerial and financial planning skills. Data confirms that 27% of participants view financial literacy and access to finance as their top priority for mentorship, tied with scaling and networking. There is a visceral demand for business incubation services that offer continuous learning, exposure to experienced entrepreneurs, and practical advisory support. This is where Entrepreneurial Support Organizations (ESOs) prove their value as navigators, bridging the gap between raw entrepreneurial talent and complex institutional frameworks.

1. Lack of Collaboration and Ecosystem Cohesion

There’s a need for stronger coordination among policymakers, financial institutions, enterprise support organizations, and the private sector.

Technology is now a cross-cutting enabler essential for competitiveness in everything from Agriculture to the Blue Economy, and integrating technology across traditional sectors can significantly enhance Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) competitiveness. However, this competitiveness is fragile without a committed County Government. The presence of high-level officials confirmed a policy commitment, yet the insight remains: sustainable development requires moving from one-off events to continuous, inclusive policy dialogues that embed women and youth participation as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for the county.

What Actions Should be Taken for an Inclusive Entrepreneurial Ecosystem?

The transition from dialogue to tangible economic impact requires a coordinated, multi-stakeholder mobilization. To bridge the gap for the large group of Kisumu’s population currently sidelined in high-value sectors, the following ecosystem priorities must be institutionalized:

• Mainstream inclusivity in economic governance. The County Government of Kisumu (CGoK) must move beyond high-level endorsement and integrate women and youth inclusivity as a verifiable Key Performance Indicator (KPI) within all county economic blueprints
• Strengthen financial accessibility and literacy. There is a critical mandate to simplify the bureaucracy of the County Enterprise, Youth, and Women’s Funds. Stakeholders must redesign financing models to favour collateral-free capital and promote table banking options like chamas to accommodate seed-stage entrepreneurs who lack traditional assets like title deeds.
• Institutionalize collaborative leadership. Foster a permanent engagement framework between the CGoK, private sector, financial institutions, and Entrepreneurial Support Organizations (ESOs). ESOs should be empowered as primary navigators to link grassroots MSMEs with institutional programs like AGPO (Access to Government Procurement Opportunities), of which many entrepreneurs remain unaware.
• Bridge the innovation-education gap. There’s an urgent need to embed financial literacy and entrepreneurship within the formal education system to solve the persistent skills gap. This can be augmented by industry-led mentorship and the expansion of TVET capacities to match technical supply with market demand.
• Sustain growth through dialogues. The overwhelming demand for continuous engagement (90% of participants expressed a high likelihood of seeking further government support) necessitates the establishment of annual or quarterly dialogue platforms to maintain accountability and peer-learning habits. Regular engagements will strengthen accountability and ensure that ecosystem reforms remain responsive to the needs of entrepreneurs.

• Improve cross-border trade awareness and policy engagement. Kisumu’s strategic location within the Lake Region presents opportunities for regional trade expansion. Strengthening awareness of cross-border trade policies and simplifying regulatory processes can enable MSMEs to access new markets and scale their operations.

Recommendations and Way Forward

The Biashara Pawa Dialogue in Kisumu established a clear mandate for systemic change within the regional entrepreneurial space. To transition from insights to impact, stakeholders must address the structural disconnects that currently prevent women and youth from scaling ventures in high-value sectors. The following strategic priorities represent a cohesive pathway for the County Government, the private sector, and support organisations to bridge these gaps and foster a truly inclusive industrial culture.

Financial Empowerment and Access

• Financing bodies must develop alternative products that prioritise the viability of a business idea over traditional, asset-heavy collateral like title deeds or vehicle logbooks.
• Facilitate non-traditional lending models, such as table banking (chamas), as a verified solution to manage credit risk and provide capital access to those historically excluded by formal banking bureaucracy.
• Expand awareness and training on existing funds to broaden county-wide outreach regarding the National and County Women and Youth Funds to demystify application procedures and reduce the pervasive fear of bureaucracy.
• Promote private equity and angel investment. Through public-private collaboration, the government should offer tax incentives and subsidies to investors willing to provide equity and grants as alternatives to debt for emerging start-ups.

Environment and Policy Reform

• Embed inclusivity in regional governance. The County Government of Kisumu (CGoK) should adopt youth and women entrepreneurship participation as a formal Key Performance Indicator (KPI) within its sustainable development blueprints.
• Mainstream climate-linked support to create targeted awareness for green economy initiatives, positioning local MSMEs to attract international climate finance through aligned sustainability indicators.
• Inclusivity policies must be embedded across all county-level planning to ensure that every regulation is evaluated for its impact on marginalised entrepreneurial demographics.
• Bridge the skills gap through formal education. Stakeholders should advocate for the integration of financial literacy and fundamental entrepreneurship skills into the primary and secondary education curricula to address the recurring skills deficit.

Impact and Knowledge Acceleration

• Standardise MSME sustainability reporting. To unlock impact investment, local MSMEs require support in adopting social impact and sustainability reporting frameworks that meet international donor standards.
• Local Entrepreneurial Support Organizations (ESOs) should be leveraged as the primary bridge to link grassroots businesses with specialised government programs like AGPO.
• Based on the high demand for follow-up engagement, the ecosystem must establish annual or quarterly forums to maintain policy momentum and peer-mentorship habits.
• Given Kisumu’s strategic location on Lake Victoria, the region must align local commerce strategies with national cross-border policies to support MSMEs trading with Tanzania and Uganda.

The BiasharaPawa Intermediation for Inclusive Enterprise Growth

The BiasharaPawa initiative, implemented under IYBA-SEED, is not positioned as a traditional support programme.

It is designed as a system-level intervention that directly responds to the structural barriers identified in Kisumu County, particularly limited access to finance, gaps in financial literacy, and fragmented ecosystem coordination. Rather than operating in isolation, it convenes the ecosystem, creating a shared platform where constraints are not only discussed but translated into actionable pathways.

The BiasharaPawa distinguishes itself through its focus on strategic intermediation, which is its ability to bridge the disconnect between entrepreneurs, policy actors, and financial systems. It does not merely identify challenges; it functions as a diagnostic and linkage platform designed to bridge the gap between seed-stage ventures and the institutional resources that often remain out of reach for women and youth.

BiasharaPawa delivers value in the following distinct ways:

• It brings together government, private sector, academia, and ESOs into a coordinated structure, reducing fragmentation and aligning priorities across stakeholders.
• The initiative directly tackles the access issues. It simplifies the complexity of government funds and de-risks early-stage ventures through targeted capacity building that aligns with actual market demands.
• Unlike traditional programs that operate in silos, BiasharaPawa integrates technology, sustainability, and financial literacy across all eight underrepresented sectors. It acts as a source of knowledge.
• It is built on real-time feedback from entrepreneurs, ensuring that recommendations, such as redesigning financing models or expanding mentorship, are directly informed by real-life challenges.
• Through a series of dialogues rather than a one-off intervention, it builds continuity, accountability, and momentum toward long-term ecosystem strengthening.

In doing so, BiasharaPawa moves beyond awareness creation. It functions as a practical mechanism for translating policy intent into accessible opportunities, ensuring that women and youth are not only included in strategy but actively enabled to participate in the economic growthof Kisumu county.

Moving From Dialogue to Durable Industrial Transformation

The BiasharaPawa Dialogue has transitioned the conversation in Kisumu from a general recognition of potential to a specific diagnosis of structural opportunity. The best outcome is the realisation that women and youth are not seeking charity, but the removal of systemic growth anchors like collateral-heavy financing and bureaucratic opacity.

The high demand for continuous engagement, with over 90% of participants seeking deeper government and ESO integration, signals a mandate for constructive collaboration and engagement. Moving forward, the success of Kisumu’s industrialization will be measured by innovative lending. Bridge the skills gap through formal training and leveraging blue economy opportunities across lake-region countries and perhaps beyond on the continent.

The Blue Economy is the sustainable integration of ocean and freshwater assets into the national economic framework, delivering job creation, climate resilience, and long-term capital formation.

Globally, this sector is valued at over $1.5 trillion annually, and for East Africa, the collective opportunity is conservatively estimated to contribute $135 billion toward regional GDP annually Source: African Union Blue Economy Strategy. Kenya, with its dual coastlines of the Indian Ocean and Lake Victoria and critical Rift Valley lakes water assets, possesses the geographic and demographic structure to become the regional anchor for the African Blue Economy.

Our greatest threat, however, is not environmental, it is the opportunity cost of inaction. By failing to upgrade systems and structures of our regulatory, financial, and logistical systems, we are letting billions of dollars in potential revenue and hundreds of thousands of jobs leak away every year. Indeed, the current contribution of the Blue Economy to our national GDP is profoundly low relative to our resource base, meaning we are missing out on the chance to fully finance our development agenda.

Diagnosing The Structural Failure

The recent BiasharaPawa dialogue in Kisumu served as a critical lens into the systemic barriers facing Kenyan entrepreneurs in the water sector. The conversations confirmed that the challenge is not a lack of resilience or market demand, but a fundamental failure to formalize structure.

The greatest drag on profitability, particularly in aquaculture, is the lack of standardized, high-quality inputs. The industry is projected to reach over $500 million in growth potential by 2027 Source: KNBS Aquaculture Sectoral Report, yet entrepreneurs are paralyzed by substandard or unavailable feeds. This forces them to use cheaper, less efficient alternatives, directly impacting fish growth rates, commercial value, and the confidence of large buyers. This is not a farming problem; it is an upstream supply chain failure.

A second major problem is the structure of the industry market. From the coast to the Great Lakes, the market for fish and aquatic products remains dangerously fragmented. This informality results in extreme price volatility and unacceptable post-harvest losses, often exceeding 30%. Without structured cooperatives, sufficient cold chain logistics, and formal grading, local businesses are trapped by middlemen and excluded from high-value institutional and export markets that demand quality consistency and volume.

Further, the industry needs to push demand for fish locally not focus on exports only. With 50 million plus Kenyans, we are a huge internal market and stakeholders need to champion a narrative to make fish one of our primary sources of protein. Affordable and diverse, we can have fish for different palates and budgets, and build internal capacity to raise, transport, store and sell fish nationally; capacity that will allow us to position and amplify our export capabilities.

Like many local subsistence and emerging industries, the Blue Economy also faces the finance perception gap. Today, local financial institutions universally view the sector as a high-risk niche area, leading to a persistent lack of tailored finance. Standard collateral requirements (land titles, buildings) are often irrelevant to water-based assets (cages, specialized vessels, processing equipment). Consequently, promising ventures are forced to rely on localized, small-scale chamas because formal lending mechanisms cannot quantify the risk, effectively stunting growth at the micro-level.

In this regard, financial institutions need to rethink their role in the economy- many see themselves as lenders; a myopic view in my opinion as they should see themselves as business enablers and help the industry identify and exploit opportunities to its fullest potential. By confining themselves to lending roles, financial institutions are locking themselves out of billions in potential profits, an opportunity cost that most of them cannot afford or sustain.

On the flip side, the industry also needs to package and position itself, it needs champions and storytellers to speak of its achievements and untapped potential and use these narratives to transform the fortunes of the industry. While the financial institutions are risk averse, the industry needs to play its part to sanitize, reposition and woo partners into its ecosystem with demonstrated win-win opportunities for all who invest.

Tapping Into A National Opportunity

To actualize the Blue Economy fullest potential, we need a strategic approach to better understand the opportunities and how to tap into them, and this demands we first do a proper inventory of what we ought to be doing. The strategy must move from fragmented projects to a holistic and coherent national asset strategy, embracing fisheries, clean energy, tourism, sports, industry and logistics among others.

The Indian Ocean coastline for example is one of the Kenya’s high-capital, high-yield pillar of the economy, having consolidated shipping, tourism, trade, services, and industrial utilization. This kind of investment however is not seen on inland waters that operate on subsistence or pre-colonial structures and ideologies that have not been challenged or adapted to the current day’s realities. Thus to move forward, we must open up our minds to new realities and the possibilities they bring to the table.

Despite praising the achievements along the Kenyan coast, we must transition from artisanal coastal exploitation to professional deep-sea harvesting. While Kenya’s EEZ is capable of sustaining a $2 billion annual deep-sea fishing industry Source: KMFRI Data on EEZ Potential, much of this value is currently harvested by foreign fleets. Investment in modern, licensed domestic fleets and industrial blast-freezing and canning facilities is necessary to export high-value, processed tuna and snapper, creating thousands of specialized jobs. This same investment must be replicated inland as local demand for fresh water fish exceeds that of salt water fish.

At the Kenyan coast, the greatest immediate revenue generator is in maritime services. Developing world-class dry-dock and ship repair facilities in our major ports will allow Kenya to capture maintenance and bunkering revenue from vessels transiting the Suez Canal route. This investment generates high-skill, long-term employment in engineering, welding, and logistics. Further improving the efficiency of our ports like Singapore will allow us to serve more regional markets and maintain our regional gateway status for greater Eastern Africa.

The success of coastal tourism sector must serve as a point of inspiration for inland waters. While Lake Naivasha has successfully replicated this model there is need to diversify beyond. The future lies in water sports, fishing charters, cruise ship hospitality, marine conservation eco-tours, and developing marina facilities for recreational yachting, broadening the appeal of our coastline and inland waters.

Strategic Essentials: Unlocking the Future

To move this national vision forward, the focus must shift from small-scale thinking and funding to high-level policy, disruption and technology adoption. Key among the things we must focus on are one Reframing Blue Finance. We must cease viewing Blue Economy projects myopically and explore what they actually deliver in the bigger picture. Things like sustainable aquaculture, mangrove restoration, and clean energy adoption like BSF and biogas are fundamentally Climate Adaptation and Mitigation activities.

Thus the government and other stakeholders must champion a policy that reclassifies these projects as “blue/climate finance” assets. This single move will unlock concessional capital – low-interest loans from multilateral institutions and attracts private sector investment seeking ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) returns, mirroring the success of mechanisms like the Norway Blue Finance Initiative Source: UN-Oceans Blue Finance Mechanisms Study.

Further, the industry needs structures and standards as it is impossible to grow and scale without them. In this regard we need deliberate and quality and enforceable mandates to define our industry standards; standards that will also guide our year on year trajectory as we move towards maximizing the Blue Economy potential. These standards will guarantee quality consistency, stabilizes market pricing, and ensures our products can compete in EU and North American export markets.

Thirdly, the industry can only be good as the expertise employed in it and thus we must invest in skills and ecosystem development. The most crucial long-term investment is in human capital. By championing conversations like BiasharaPawa and developing Blue Incubation Hubs we have the potential to exponentially grow the Blue Economy to its fullest capacity. In this regard we need a national business incubation policy to formally support ESOs in establishing specialized Blue Economy Innovation Hubs across Mombasa, Kisumu, and inland urban centers. These hubs must train the next generation in maritime engineering, aquaculture science, digital logistics, and specialized BE marketing among other skillsets.

The end goal of this is tapping into the Blue Economy multiplier effect, growth opportunities that will allow and shift the youth and women demographic in the industry from being low-paid manual laborers to skilled entrepreneurs and professionals in high-growth areas.

Kenya’s destiny as a thriving middle-income economy is intrinsically tied to the success of its Blue Economy. The policy framework, the technology, and the entrepreneurial spirit are aligning. The moment demands that stakeholders now align the capital, the standards, and the political will to seize this generational opportunity, not tomorrow, but today.

Through conversations like the BiasharaPawa dialogues and in working with its partners and other stakeholders, we can turnaround the Blue Economy into a major contributor of our GDP. Further, by raising its profile and importance, it will open up conversations about conservation and sustainability within the industry- raising the bar on overall management of our water towers and coastal areas. This represents a holistic win for all- creating jobs, improving quality of life, improved environmental care and better economic returns.