Our Work.

What We Do

The United SMEs Association  of Kenya is a not-for-profit organization committed to helping Small & Medium Enterprises to connect and promote their businesses

The United SMEs Association  of Kenya is a not-for-profit organization committed to helping Small & Medium Enterprises to connect and promote their businesses for a more profitable and sustainable future. The United SMEs Association of Kenya was formed out of a realization that severe problems were being faced by the SMEs sector in Kenya, which were not being addressed due to the lack of a strong representative organization.  

Vision

The vision of the Association is to advance the interests of SMEs and entrepreneurs involved in the running of SMEs. This vision shall be achieved, inter alia, through the following activities:

Advocating for the rights of SMEs at all relevant national fora, which shall include but shall not be limited to:

  1. Government and Government ministries
  2. Quasi-government organizations
  3. Non-governmental organizations
  4. Councils and municipalities
  5. Any other relevant local and international fora.
  6. Advancing the cause of SMEs through activities such as:
  7. Promotion and development of markets
  8. Sourcing and channeling of capital and technical assistance to SMEs
  9. Education and training for entrepreneurs
  10. Developing or encouraging the development of infrastructure (factory shells, incubation units, etc.) for the promotion of SMEs’ activities.
  11. Interactions with other national associations and groupings in order to ensure SMEs’ interactions with their members are mutually beneficial.

Values

The Association shall bear the following values in mind in everything that it and its members do:

Honesty and integrity

Above all else, the operations of the Association must be conducted in a manner that reflects honesty and integrity and seeks the greater good of its members and the nation first and foremost. Dishonesty and a lack of integrity shall not be tolerated at any level.

Transparency

All dealings that are directly or indirectly associated with the Association shall be done transparently. Where there is a potential for conflict of interest, all members are compelled to disclose the potential conflict, and the onus shall be on them to do so. Related party transactions and transactions that result in a direct or indirect benefit to any member must similarly be disclosed.

Impartiality and fairness

The Association shall conduct its duties with impartiality and fairness. This shall be particularly relevant with regard to the allocation of resources and benefits. No preferential treatment shall be given to any parties outside of the stipulations of the relevant rules and regulations.

Servant leadership

The Association shall strive to promote the virtues of servant-leadership. Office bearers within the Association shall seek primarily to serve the Association’s members, and therefore service should take precedence over any other consideration.

Professionalism

Affairs of the Association shall be conducted professionally, and in a way that maintains and promotes a good standing and image. All members shall strive to ensure that the Association only renders world-class service.

Thought leadership

The Association and its members will strive to remain at the forefront of promoting and adopting international best practices. The Association shall actively encourage innovation both with respect to how it is run, and how its members do business.

Best practice

The Association’s primary aim is to inculcate best practices within the SME sector to grow them into world-class corporations. The SME Association of Kenya shall therefore incorporate best practices in all its activities, to serve as an example of practicing what it preaches. This shall include the cultivation of world-class culture, brand, and image

Growth Strategy & Business Planning

The biggest reason most small and medium sized enterprises do not grow into large corporations is because they lack a Growth Strategy. The Growth Strategy to a business is like DNA to a human being. We offer free Growth Strategy training to all new paid-up members of the Association. This helps to ensure that we achieve our mandate which is to grow small and medium enterprises into large corporations. The Growth Strategy training helps you as the entrepreneur to come up with a concise vision to guide the long term objectives of your business, as well as to develop a short term Business and Action Plan that ensures that you carry out the necessary and relevant activities needed to take your business to the next level.

Access to markets

Sales growth is the most important ingredient to growing a business. As such, we place great emphasis on helping members to develop. Sales growth is the most important ingredient to growing a business. As such, we place great emphasis on helping members to develop world-class products, as well as develop effective marketing strategies to ensure they are able to sell their products.

Access to funding

Funding is the lifeblood of any business and without access to appropriate, affordable funding, business growth is stifled, if not killed altogether.

Infrastructure

One of the key problems that SMEs face is securing appropriate work spaces for their business. The SME Association of Kenya has the following products that cater for start-ups

Lobbying & Advocacy

Our lobbying and advocacy is aimed at securing a conducive playing field for the formation and growth of SMEs. To this end, we are compiling a number of policies