Kwale Governor Fatuma Achani has hailed initiatives that equip women with financial and business skills, saying they are critical to strengthening household incomes and driving local economic growth.
Speaking during Equity Bank’s Fanikisha regional customer event in the county, Governor Achani said empowering women entrepreneurs through training and mentorship goes beyond access to credit and plays a key role in sustaining families and creating jobs.
She noted that programmes targeting women-led businesses have a direct ripple effect on community development.
Her remarks came as 74 women entrepreneurs in Kwale County graduated from a financial literacy and entrepreneurship training programme implemented by the Equity Group Foundation under the Fanikisha initiative.
The participants received training in budgeting, debt management, understanding banking products, digital literacy and basic business management.
The programme is designed to enhance financial decision-making, improve enterprise sustainability and unlock growth opportunities for small businesses.
Equity Bank Kenya Managing Director Moses Nyabanda said Fanikisha provides a structured pathway for women entrepreneurs by combining access to finance with mentorship and capacity building.
He added that financial education is a key pillar in helping women-owned enterprises grow and remain resilient.
The financial literacy training forms part of Equity’s broader Fanikisha ecosystem, which seeks to address long-standing barriers faced by women in business, including limited access to capital, markets and business networks.
According to Equity Bank, Fanikisha was launched in 2007 in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and has since trained more than 2.5 million women across Kenya, with over Sh 565 billion disbursed to women-led enterprises.
Equity Bank Kenya Head of Women and Youth Banking, Dr Silpah Owich, said the programme offers a holistic support system that integrates training, mentorship and access to finance to help women succeed.
The newly trained entrepreneurs are expected to apply their skills to strengthen and expand their businesses, building on success stories from other Fanikisha beneficiaries across the country.
The initiative supports Equity Group’s Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan, which targets reaching 100 million customers by 2030, with a focus on empowering women-led enterprises across the continent.
Edited by John Majau
