Busia: Busia County has inaugurated a committee of the County Co-operative Enterprise Development Fund and County Trade Development Revolving Fund Board to help in promoting the growth of cooperatives and Small and Micro-Enterprises (SMEs). Speaking during the inauguration, Busia Governor Paul Otuoma said the two funds aim to promote cooperatives and SMEs through access to affordable credit, hence improving the income levels of households.
According to Kenya News Agency, Otuoma mentioned that these funds have previously been mismanaged for political benefits, but the current focus is on addressing the needs of the people and the development of the county. He further stated that a total amount of Sh111.8 million has been issued as loans to traders and cooperatives, benefitting 92 cooperative societies with Kshs. 106 million and 386 individual traders with Sh5.8 million.
The governor tasked the board with overseeing the administration of these funds and implementing strategies to collect loan arrears, noting the challenge of loan defaulting. He highlighted that Sh100 million from previous lending remains unpaid, urging the new team to adopt new strategies to avoid similar issues.
Governor Otuoma advised the boards to avoid over-reliance on the County Exchequer for funding and instead develop innovative funding methods. He suggested forming partnerships with commercial financial institutions to make more funds available, and emphasized shifting the focus from small loans to many cooperatives to funding ward-based farmers’ cooperatives to enhance production capacity for the County Aggregation and Industrial Park (CAIP) at Nasewa.