With the generous support of KKCF and UNHCR, the Turkana County Government inaugurated a new Biashara Centre in the Kakuma-Kalobeyei refugee-hosting area on May 3, 2023. This center serves as a vital hub offering essential government and business services under one roof, catering to both Kenyan citizens and refugees residing in the region.
The center currently serves as a single point of access for county government services, with plans to ub a Huduma Center in the future that will offer national government services to become the first Biashara Huduma Centre in Kenya. Biashara is Kiswahili for business and Huduma means service.
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, led the rehabilitation and equipping of the center, with valuable technical assistance provided by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) through the KKCF program.
The launch of the Biashara Centre in Kakuma town was attended by esteemed dignitaries, including H.E. Hon. Jeremiah Ekamais Lomorukai Napotikan, the Governor of Turkana County; H.E. Maarten Brouwer, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Kenya; Irene Giribaldi, Head of Cooperation for the European Union; David Kinyua, Humanitarian, Resilience, and Inclusion Lead for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO); Amena Arif, IFC’s Country Manager for Kenya; and Terhas Berhe, UNHCR’s Senior Operations Coordinator, along with other key development and implementation partners.
Before the establishment of this center, residents had to endure journeys of up to 120 kilometers to reach the nearest center in Lodwar, Turkana County’s capital. The Biashara Centre now offers a faster, more convenient, and cost-effective means to access government services, encompassing tasks such as business registration, permit applications, and requests for small business loans through the biashara, women, and youth fund. Additionally, it provides various business development services.
The Centre was not fully operational during the launch due to funding challenges. However, technical officers from various departments, including the Biashara Centre Manager, have now been deployed to the Centre.
Following the launch, UNHCR and IFC are closely monitoring the operations of the Centre and are providing operationalization and technical support.
The Biashara Centre was rehabilitated and equipped with generous funding from the European Union. The center is additionally supported by four development agencies through IFC’s KKCF program: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development through KfW.
