Across Kenya, young women are building businesses with determination, heart, and vision.
From weaving baskets to catering and events, we are not waiting for opportunities to be handed out – we are creating them. But despite our drive and business acumen, access to formal financing remains a huge obstacle to the growth and survival of our businesses.
Why? Financial institutions and their products are often not designed with us in mind.
These stories represent our individual daily realities – and our shared calls to action. We were brought together by the inaugural “Young Africa Works Dialogue on Unlocking Finance for Young Women-led Businesses” series in Kenya, convened in June by the Mastercard Foundation. It brought together young entrepreneurs, government, and private-sector financial ecosystem stakeholders to address financial inclusion for young women entrepreneurs in Kenya.
Four young women entrepreneurs, four different business journey realities, one shared call to action: finance systems and financial institutions must evolve to include us.
Build roads, not roadblocks: Gloria
As the founder of Shaba, a tech-enabled platform empowering artisan women to produce and sell traditional sisal baskets for global markets, I have witnessed firsthand the challenges young women face in building a small business. Our artisans work from home and pool their earnings into “table banking” groups to buy goats, save for school fees, and build financial resilience. Their economic contributions ripple through our local economies.
We are now successful, but it wasn’t easy. Traditional banks saw us as informal traders, not as a legitimate, scalable business, so I had to use personal savings, family loans, grants and a soft loan. Along the way, I faced barriers such as delays in legal registration, lack of point-of-sale tools, and the uncertainties of seasonal tourism-based cash flows.
I call for Kenyan financial institutions to reconsider collateral requirements for loans, adjust risk assessments to accommodate proven business models in the informal sector and work to ensure digital finance models are accessible and inclusive, especially for those in rural locations. We are not asking for money first – we are asking for trust first.
Bank on People, Not Numbers: Magdalene
When I walked into a bank to apply for my first loan, I was met with silence. My assigned bank officer avoided calls and delayed my application until a woman officer stepped in. That one relationship changed everything. We got the loan. We grew. We repaid.
But when I returned for a second loan, the supportive officer wasn’t there, and the cold treatment resumed. I left, turning to the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, only to be asked for collateral in the form of land titles in “high-value areas.” Kenya Industrial Estates, a government-owned industrial development institution, offered better terms but still demanded collateral. They challenged my trustworthiness, saying, “If your family won’t guarantee you, why should we?” I instead built my business using friendly loans and strategic partnerships. But these options are not available to everyone.
I call on financial institutions to offer trust-based lending backed by alternative sources of data, community vetting, and faster turnaround times. Go beyond risk scores on paper and see the vision and sustainability of youth-led businesses. Reduce the need for women to rely on personal networks and predatory loans.
Inclusivity is a business model: Stella
As a young person with a disability, I have encountered closed door after closed door in building a business. Public spaces are not accessible, investors haven’t believed in me, and financing programs are not inclusively designed. Still, I’ve persevered, finding mentors, training programs, and networks that support people with disabilities. I want to do the same for others. My goal is to own a fish farm, but I don’t just want to run a business. I want to prove that young people with disabilities can lead, thrive, and inspire others.
I call for landlords to make training spaces accessible; for the government to enforce disability rights laws in finance; for financial institutions to tailor loan programs with flexibility and grace periods; and for all stakeholders to share success stories of entrepreneurs with disabilities to challenge stigma.
Let the field inform the financial products: Rehema
My journey began in primary school, selling chapatis and hawking water to pay my school fees. Today, I run a thriving registered events and catering company. But my journey through the informal to formal economy has been full of challenges and invisible, unavoidable costs. When I needed a loan to fulfil my first tender, the bank declined my request. So, I turned to loan sharks and borrowed at exorbitant rates, which took away my profits.
Many women like me are penalized for operating informally, even though it is a survival strategy, not a choice. I call for financial institutions to recategorize client risk profiles to accommodate informal business activity, create financial products that reflect young women’s lived realities, deploy banking agents who understand young women’s contexts, and invite women into policy-making spaces.
Let’s change systems together
These are our stories, and we heard them echoed repeatedly at the Kenya Young Africa Works Dialogue. The Mastercard Foundation also shared research showing that only 32 percent of women-owned micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) can access formal credit in Kenya. We heard how Kenyan women in rural and peri-urban areas are nearly invisible to formal finance systems and how bias and gatekeeping block access for young or informal entrepreneurs, as well as entrepreneurs with disabilities.
But when we are heard, change can happen. At the Young Africa Works Dialogue event, Kenyan financial institutions pledged to do better. Equity Bank committed KSH 130 million to digital infrastructure investment; KCB announced KSH 250 billion in lending for women-led businesses; the Central Bank of Kenya committed to launching a National Financial Literacy Strategy; and the State Department for MSMEs pledged reforms on informal trader protections and policy co-design. These commitments reflect our shared calls to action.
We have built with sweat and grace, created jobs, opened workshops, trained others, and reached larger markets. We do not need saving. We need systems that stop excluding us.
Gloria Kisilu, Magdalene Muthee, Stella Wangila, and Rehema Chivatsi are young women entrepreneurs living in Kenya. They were participants at the inaugural Young Africa Works Youth Dialogue on Unlocking Finance for Young Women-led Businesses in Kenya that was convened by the Mastercard Foundation from June 9 to 10, 2025.
This article was originally published on CNBC Africa, August 12, 2025.