Kenya Chamber of Commerce & Industry, K-Expro sign MoU to Develop SMEs in Oil and Gas
The Kenya Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) and the Kenya Extractives Programme (K-Expro) have today signed a memorandum of understanding where K-Expro will provide short term technical assistance to KNCCI to develop a simple medium, small, micro enterprises (MSME’s) development framework for the emerging oil and gas sector in Kenya.
Through the project KNCCI technical team will develop a framework that elaborates how the MSME sector can play a role in the oil and gas supply chain at the county level. Further the partnership will identify and support the operationalization of the needed building blocks at county level to support the development of MSMEs. KNCCI will also host two workshop training and capacity building sessions at both the national level to engage the relevant county-level stakeholders and professionals.
Speaking during the signing ceremony Kenya chamber of commerce and industry chief executive officer termed the partnership as timely if the country’s enterprises are to benefit from the nascent oil and gas industry.
“We do believe that Kenyan businesses especially at the county level must be empowered to reap from oil and gas industry in their regions. As KNCCI we will always be at the forefront to ensure that Kenyan businesses play a role in new sectors such as oil and gas including playing a critical role in the facilitation of training to enable them acquire the needed capacity,” she said.
According to Tullow oil Kenyan contractors earned $75 million and $81.5 million in 2016 and 2015 respectively as payments for services rendered to its oil exploration activities in Turkana. This amount does not include the value of local employment or goods and services secured through the company’s supply chain, or investments in social investment projects as part of Tullow’s contractual obligations.
With the country headed to the development phase Tullow oil has set aside spend approximately $170 Million in Kenya’s Pre-Development, Exploration & Appraisal Activity in 2018 a majority of which is set aside for Exploration and Appraisal at $90 million and pre-development expenditure of $80 million.
About KNCCI
The Kenya National Chamber Of Commerce & Industry (herein referred to as KNCCI) is a not-for-profit, autonomous private sector institution and Business Membership Organization (BMO) established in 1965. KNCCI’s principle business objectives include; lobbying for the formulation of policies that support business development, the establishment and maintenance of a business friendly legal and regulatory framework, advocacy for commerce and promotion of the welfare of the business community in Kenya. KNCCI was re-launched in 2014 and now has a countrywide outreach with 47 County Chapters whose membership constitutes the small, medium and large enterprises across different sectors of the economy.
About K-Expro
The Kenya-Extractives Programme (K-Expro) is a technical assistance programme funded by the United kingdom’s department for international development (DFID) to support initiatives that target sustainable economic growth for the extractives sector in Kenya.