What changed
Kenya’s Principal Secretary for MSME Development, Susan Auma Mang’eni, has urged African securities exchanges to work more closely with small businesses and open wider routes to long-term growth capital.
Speaking at the Africa Commerce & Industry Summit 2026 in Nairobi, she called for exchanges to help MSMEs improve governance, productivity, innovation and readiness for listing or other capital-market financing. The appeal also puts youth- and women-led enterprises at the centre of the three-day summit.
Why it matters
This is a proposal to change what an exchange does for a small company. Instead of waiting for established firms to arrive with polished accounts and formal structures, exchanges would help businesses build the systems needed to become investable in the first place.
That matters in Kenya, where MSMEs are expected to provide at least 70% of roughly 1.2 million annual job opportunities. If businesses cannot secure affordable, patient financing, many may remain too small to expand, hire or compete beyond their home markets.
The difficult part is execution. No exchange has yet committed to a programme, funding amount or timetable, and the number of MSMEs that could realistically meet listing requirements is unknown. Mang’eni’s argument therefore turns on whether governments, KNCCI and capital-market institutions can convert partnership language into practical support that businesses can actually use.
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