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The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) has announced the recruitment of the first cohort of Kenyan businesses under the Kenya-US Small and Medium Enterprises Trade Initiative.
The 25 local SMEs will be provided with sector-specific information on business opportunities in the US market as they seek to scale up globally or increase exports to the US.
The US-Kenya SME Trade Initiative agreement was signed between KEPSA and the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) in New York last November.
The deal was signed by CCA President and CEO Florizelle Liser and KEPSA CEO Carole Kariuki and witnessed by President Kenyatta, who was on a working visit in New York.
The initiative seeks to expand trade and investment between American and local SMEs through partnership, information sharing, training, logistics, financing, and more.
It also seeks to link local and US small businesses, especially women, youth, minority, and diaspora-owned, to the regional and global value chains of multinational companies that are members of CCA and KEPSA.
The initiative will allow Kenyan SMEs to take full advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which gives Kenya and 40 other sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to the US market for over 6,000 products.
To be eligible for this initiative, an enterprise must have been in operation for at least a year, have less than 100 employees, and be registered in Kenya. They must also be ready to export or have been exporting to the US and want to expand.
CCA is a leading US business association focused solely on promoting and facilitating US-Africa trade, investment, and commercial engagement.