Kenya’s micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), particularly those led by youth and women, face significant barriers to growth, including limited access to finance, inadequate technical capacity, and exclusion from mainstream financial services. These challenges restrict job creation and economic opportunities, leaving many young people without dignified and sustainable employment pathways.

The Jiinue Growth Program (JGP) addresses these challenges by pairing financial support with tailored technical assistance and ecosystem coordination. DT Global led key aspects of this work to support MSMEs and empower young people through entrepreneurship and employment. We provided:

Technical Assistance:

• Provided pre-lending technical assistance to strengthen financial literacy, business planning, and investor readiness, ensuring MSMEs are well-prepared to access financing.
• Provided post-lending mentorship for MSMEs to strengthen resilience and performance.
• Strengthened partner coordination and ecosystems, including stakeholder engagement.

Monitoring and Evaluation Work:

• Tracked program progress, measured impact, and developed a Management Information System to support data collection, reporting, and decision-making.

Communications:

• Led branding and social media strategy, ensuring alignment with Mastercard Foundation standards.
• Managed partner communications and provided ongoing support to enhance program visibility and stakeholder engagement.

Results include:

• Delivered pre-lending technical assistance to over 60,000 MSMEs, with 65% women led.
• Supported more than 18,000 MSMEs through two mentorship sessions, of which 84% (15,000+) were youth-led and 61% (11,000+) were young women-owned.
• Built and operationalized the Jiinue Management Information System for data collection, reporting, and decision-making.
• Facilitated regular partner review meetings, feedback loops, and system refinements to improve data quality and reporting accuracy.
• Led survey design, enumerator training, and data collection for outcome monitoring across all 47 counties.
• Managed branding, social media platforms, and partner communications to enhance program visibility.