"Allocate tender quotas to women, firms urged"

The private sector should emulate the government in allocating more procurement opportunities for businesses run by women, youth and persons with disabilities. Programme analyst for women’s economic empowerment at the UN Women Arjmand Khan said women should, however, fight for opportunities in the private sector and non-governmental organisations, leveraging on experiences in preferential public procurement. “We already have a fresh initiative laid by the government. We are now looking at how we can now emulate the government example and bring it to the corporate sector,” Khan told a forum for women in business in Nairobi...

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics data shows that in December 2016 there were more than 1.56 million licensed micro, small and medium enterprises. Out of this, 32.2 per cent were women-owned. The data also shows that of the 5.85 million unlicensed MSMEs, 60.2 per cent were owned and run by women...During the forum, Gulf African Bank pledged to increase the number of women vendors from the current 14, which is 4.5 per cent of the total 321 to 20 per cent by the end of the year. “We need to show the private sector that including women in their procurement processes is beneficial to both parties. It should not however be enforced rather it should be a self-driven initiative,” Gulf Africa Bank head of women and youth banking Najma Jabri said.