KCB, Safaricom Target SMEs With Integrated Financial Solution

Biashar@ Smart will enable SMEs to scale up their growth while nurturing enterprise health through smart tips on cost management, loyalty programmes and preferential business opportunities.

Nairobi, July 9, 2014… KCB Group and Safaricom Business, the enterprise unit of the leading integrated communications services provider, have launched a one-stop-solution platform to meet the needs ofSmall and Medium Enterprises.

Biashar@ Smart, the first proposition kicked off under the Strategic Partnership between Safaricom and the KCB Group, seeks to address common challenges faced by SMEs through bespoke solutions.

The KCB Group CEO, Mr. Joshua Oigara, said ‘ Biashar@ Smart is a game-changer for the market given that the SME sector employs 7.5 million people and accounts for 80% of the employment market while contributing over 92% of the new jobs created annually according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics’.

Mr. Oigara explained, “We recognize that SMEs are the engine of the Kenyan economy. Biashar@Smart is a business proposition that helps businesses run efficiently and professionally while offering them tools and financial access that will help them achieve their business goals”.

“Biashar@ Smart is the Safaricom Business and KCB Group’s brand promise which seeks to identify with, empower, connect and grow SMEs in Kenya, through partnerships, befitting propositions and empowerment,” said Safaricom’s Chief Executive Officer, Bob Collymore, during the launch.

He added, “Today’s launch marks the beginning of a journey in which we are also going to facilitate capacity building initiatives, preferential propositions and loyalty programmes that will radically transform how SME’s do business. We will soon launch Biashara Tips and Biashara Club, which will open up networking and new business opportunities for SME’s”.

Safaricom’s propositions that will be offered to the SMEs include Zidisha Biashara, Biashara Smart Classifieds, Biashara Tips and OneConnect Express. They will complement the existing offerings such as Cloud Software as a Service (Cloud SaaS) which offers human resources, accounting and payroll applications online to SME’s, saving them the cost of buying the software, as well as domain hosting and professional email services.

KCB Group brings to the table flexible products and services among them advisory services, KCB SME Banking, competitively-priced KCB SME Loans, insurance, online banking registration, pre-paid cards and credit cards which will help unlock the potential of the entrepreneurs in the rural and urban areas to scale up and grow.

Commending Safaricom Business and the KCB Group on the launch of Biashar@ Smart, the Cabinet Secretary for Industrialisation and Trade, Adan Mohamed noted that SMEs risk collapsing if they do not embrace ICT and innovation to make their businesses more efficient.

“The survival of the businesses you represent is of significant importance, not just to you, your employees and dependents but to your customers too, including the government and corporate institutions, who look upon you to continue providing them with the products, services and propositions that you offer,” he said.

Mohamed added, “SMEs employ up to 80 percent of people living in Kenya. They account for 92 percent of all new jobs that are created and contribute up to 45 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. These statistics can only get better through the successful implementation of Biashar@ Smart”.

KCB and Safaricom have previously partnered to launch KCB M-Benki, a unique bank account from KCB that lets to transact from their mobile phones, and in an initiative that saw M-PESA agents to access a KSh1.5 billion unsecured loan facility to finance operations.

Biashar@ Smart will enable SMEs to scale up their growth while nurturing enterprise health through smart tips on cost management, loyalty programmes and preferential business opportunities.

Nairobi, July 9, 2014… KCB Group and Safaricom Business, the enterprise unit of the leading integrated communications services provider, have launched a one-stop-solution platform to meet the needs ofSmall and Medium Enterprises.

Biashar@ Smart, the first proposition kicked off under the Strategic Partnership between Safaricom and the KCB Group, seeks to address common challenges faced by SMEs through bespoke solutions.

The KCB Group CEO, Mr. Joshua Oigara, said ‘ Biashar@ Smart is a game-changer for the market given that the SME sector employs 7.5 million people and accounts for 80% of the employment market while contributing over 92% of the new jobs created annually according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics’.

Mr. Oigara explained, “We recognize that SMEs are the engine of the Kenyan economy. Biashar@Smart is a business proposition that helps businesses run efficiently and professionally while offering them tools and financial access that will help them achieve their business goals”.

“Biashar@ Smart is the Safaricom Business and KCB Group’s brand promise which seeks to identify with, empower, connect and grow SMEs in Kenya, through partnerships, befitting propositions and empowerment,” said Safaricom’s Chief Executive Officer, Bob Collymore, during the launch.

He added, “Today’s launch marks the beginning of a journey in which we are also going to facilitate capacity building initiatives, preferential propositions and loyalty programmes that will radically transform how SME’s do business. We will soon launch Biashara Tips and Biashara Club, which will open up networking and new business opportunities for SME’s”.

Safaricom’s propositions that will be offered to the SMEs include Zidisha Biashara, Biashara Smart Classifieds, Biashara Tips and OneConnect Express. They will complement the existing offerings such as Cloud Software as a Service (Cloud SaaS) which offers human resources, accounting and payroll applications online to SME’s, saving them the cost of buying the software, as well as domain hosting and professional email services.

KCB Group brings to the table flexible products and services among them advisory services, KCB SME Banking, competitively-priced KCB SME Loans, insurance, online banking registration, pre-paid cards and credit cards which will help unlock the potential of the entrepreneurs in the rural and urban areas to scale up and grow.

Commending Safaricom Business and the KCB Group on the launch of Biashar@ Smart, the Cabinet Secretary for Industrialisation and Trade, Adan Mohamed noted that SMEs risk collapsing if they do not embrace ICT and innovation to make their businesses more efficient.

“The survival of the businesses you represent is of significant importance, not just to you, your employees and dependents but to your customers too, including the government and corporate institutions, who look upon you to continue providing them with the products, services and propositions that you offer,” he said.

Mohamed added, “SMEs employ up to 80 percent of people living in Kenya. They account for 92 percent of all new jobs that are created and contribute up to 45 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. These statistics can only get better through the successful implementation of Biashar@ Smart”.

KCB and Safaricom have previously partnered to launch KCB M-Benki, a unique bank account from KCB that lets to transact from their mobile phones, and in an initiative that saw M-PESA agents to access a KSh1.5 billion unsecured loan facility to finance operations.