Solv Kenya, a digital Business to Business (B2B) marketplace for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) backed by Standard Chartered, has announced a Supply Chain Financing (SCF) partnership, three months after commencing their service piloting.
In its first quarter of beta-testing in Kenya, Solv Kenya has co-created the invoice financing program in partnership with eight multinational manufacturing and trading companies, three financial partners and over 700 MSMEs. The partners include EABL, BAT, Nestle among others.
MSMEs will profit from the partnership by leveraging their relationships with Suppliers, who will expose its pool of MSMEs to Solv Kenya’s network of financial institutions and give them access to financing at favorable rates. Ksh 45 million in financing has so far been disbursed to MSMEs.
“We are proud to revolutionize, simplify, and accelerate growth for micro, small, and medium businesses in Kenya using technology and data,” said Sheila Kimani Omukuba, CEO of Solv Kenya. This program will not only address MSMEs growth challenges but give them options for accessing competitive pricing, more customers for manufacturers and traders and new markets for financial institutions under a pure-play B2B e-commerce marketplace model.”
Incubated by SC Ventures, Standard Chartered Group’s innovation, ventures, and fintech investments unit, the innovation was first launched in India owing to its 63 million MSMEs and inclusive trade ecosystem. This year, the service was made available in Kenya, where the MSME ecosystem accounts for 80% of all businesses, 30% of Kenya’s GDP, and 15 million jobs.
Solv will expand the marketplace to the rest of Africa within the year – targeting to facilitate MSMEs with digitised operations; Buy now Pay Later (BNPL) programs and credit facilities from multiple lenders, access to quality products from verified suppliers at competitive prices, reliable on-ground logistics support and insurance.
