The competitive business challenge offers incentives to small and medium-sized businesses looking to enter the Kakuma and Kalobeyei area and use innovative enterprise models to improve essential services and products for people living there.
The challenge fund component will support established companies, social enterprises, and local entrepreneurs in implementing commercially viable and sustainable businesses that have the potential to raise incomes, provide goods and services, create jobs and/or improve living standards in both the camp and host community. Private sector companies and social enterprises will compete for performance-based grants, which also require co-financing from the companies.
For micro and small enterprises from the Kakuma area, grants and technical assistance are provided by KKCF, with the goal to ‘graduate’ these businesses so they can access expansion resources from microfinance organisations and other financial institutions.
The business challenge is divided into three separate competition windows:
The KKCF will provide catalytic funding and technical support to incentivise for-profit companies, social enterprises, and local and refugee entrepreneurs to start or scale existing operations in the Kakuma-Kalobeyei area.
Private Sector Window
Private Sector Window targets companies currently present in Kakuma and those willing to set up businesses in Kakuma and Kalobeyei areas.
The Private Sector Window will support established companies in implementing commercially viable and sustainable businesses that have the potential to raise incomes, provide goods and services, create jobs and/or improve living standards in both the camp and host community. Private sector companies will compete for performance-based grants, which will also require co-financing from the companies. Technical assistance may also be provided to the successful bidders. The Private Sector Window will include a gender component, prioritising business models that address gender-related constraints by supporting women’s economic advancement through the creation of new entrepreneurial and job opportunities, as well as improving their living standards.
Social Enterprise Window
KKCF Social Enterprise Window targets social enterprises currently present in Kakuma and those willing to set up businesses in Kakuma and Kalobeyei areas.
Social enterprises can ease pressure on the overstretched humanitarian system and compliment people’s willingness to pay for education, for example, by engaging Kenyan and
regional low-cost private school providers. We will also target enterprise models which increase access to water and sanitation and quality medical and reproductive health solutions for refugees and host communities. We will address gender gaps by supporting social enterprises that can set up local manufacturing and distribution of sanitary towels and help increase their access and use particularly for teenage girls.
Local Enterprise Development Window
Local Enterprise Development Window targets local enterprises currently present in Kakuma camp. We will provide technical assistance to build their capacity to absorb funding and later with a rolling competitive challenge fund.
We will work with existing or new providers of financial and business development services (banks, microfinance institutions (MFIs), NGOs and others) to support the growth of the local businesses. This window will also assist in the development of a pipeline for growing micro, small and medium enterprises. To achieve this, we will work with training institutions to meet the training needs of the local businesses.