Biashara Pawa Dialogue Series Launches in Uasin Gishu to Champion Women and Youth Entrepreneurship

On 25th September 2025, Eldohub hosted their inaugural Biashara Power Dialogue Series in Eldoret under the theme “Women and Youth in Nation Building – From Ideas to Impact”. Working with key partners Responsible Business Consulting and Kaizen Consultancy implementers in SNV Kenya’s initiative under Investing in Young Businesses in Africa – Supporting Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development (IYBA-SEED). The Biashara Pawa project focuses on enabling women and youth entrepreneurs in typically male-dominated sectors such as: Manufacturing & Engineering, Green and Circular Economy, Agriculture and Agribusiness, Technology, Financial Services, Infrastructure development, Blue economy, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene.

The event, convened at Eldohub’s offices, brought together women and youth entrepreneurs, policymakers, ecosystem support organizations, financiers, and community leaders to spotlight the critical role of young people and women in driving Kenya’s inclusive economic growth.

The day began with a powerful showcase of 25 women and youth entrepreneur role models, followed by registration and a warm welcome from the master of ceremonies, Charity Mbithe. In his opening remarks, Charles Sakari, Resource Mobilisation Lead of Eldohub, emphasized the importance of supporting entrepreneurship in under-represented sectors, highlighting Eldohub’s role as a hub for innovation and capacity-building in the region.

Nduta Ndirangu of SNV Kenya followed with remarks underscoring the ecosystem’s collective responsibility to unlock opportunities for women and youth entrepreneurs. She stressed that inclusive entrepreneurship is not just a matter of equity but a catalyst for sustainable development across Kenya’s counties.

The program then transitioned into the panel dialogue session, moderated by Susan Njoroge of Responsible Business Consulting (RBC).

The panel discussion centered on the entrepreneurial journey of women and youth – from idea generation through to startup, growth, and sustainability. Panelists included:

CPA. Victorine Kapkiai, Chief Officer, Youth Affairs and Sports, Uasin Gishu County
Brian Rono, Micro Small Enterprise Authority (MSEA) Officer
Caroline Watwati, Founder, Cee Natural, Kenya
Everlyn Kemboi, Branch Manager, Cooperative Bank
Lavender Mutenyo Simiyu, Founder, Agrifield Solutions for Sustainable Farming

The conversations were candid and practical. The Biashara Pawa women role model entrepreneurs, Lavender and Caroline, shared their personal journeys of turning ideas into viable businesses, describing the importance for bridging the entrepreneurial gap of knowledge and skills, understanding your markets/customers, and persisting despite setbacks. While acknowledging the trust gap many women and youth entrepreneurs face when approaching financial institutions and the critical need for business data, Everlyn highlighted that rapidly shifting landscape of lending, with new and adaptive financial products as well as capacity building initiatives to increase inclusivity in lending from financial institutions to grow businesses. Victorine, emphasized the county government’s critical role in policy support, capacity-building and the existing initiatives in place to support women and youth entrepreneurship in the county. MSEA outlined how they support micro and small enterprises formalize their businesses, and Brian further highlighted existing programmes that provide access capital and markets to support entrepreneurs and businesses in the county.

Audience questions deepened the dialogue, surfacing issues such as the need for concerted effort towards an enabling regulatory environment including tax and regulations that supported business growth; growing the need for financial institutions to support micro and small business with access to capital especially tailored to women and youth entrepreneurs who rarely have sureties or collateral; the importance of asking for help early in the entrepreneurial journey; and the need for entrepreneurs to expand their understanding on the opportunities for local and regional market linkages. The panel concluded with reflections from each panelist, emphasizing the importance of entrepreneurial knowledge and capacity building, discipline and resilience networks and collaboration, making the most of existing opportunities, and already existing support systems.

In the afternoon, participants engaged in breakout sessions across eight key sectors to generate actionable recommendations. Each group, guided by a sector expert explored three areas: priority challenges, entrepreneurial solutions, and ecosystem or policy actions.

The discussions revealed common barriers such as limited access to finance, inadequate networks, skill gaps, and systemic gender or age biases. Yet, participants proposed innovative community-driven solutions, including peer-to-peer support models, digital tools for market access, and collective approaches such as cooperatives and savings groups. Importantly, groups stressed the need for ecosystem actors: government, industry associations, and ecosystem organisations; to create enabling environments through targeted training, simplified compliance processes, and accessible financing products.

The plenary presentations that followed reflected the richness of the breakout conversations. Each group distilled its findings into three key challenges, three community-driven solutions, and two to three ecosystem recommendations, forming a collective agenda for action in Uasin Gishu and beyond.

Masterfully guided by the master of ceremonies, Charity Mbithe from Kaizen Consultancy, the Eldoret event demonstrated the power of dialogue, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing in accelerating women and youth entrepreneurship. Over 80% of the event’s participants highlighted that the event helped them understand the importance inclusive entrepreneurship of women and youth in under-represented sectors.

Looking ahead, Eldohub will host two more Biashara Pawa events in 2026, and actively continue recognize women and youth role models in under-represented sector. The imperative to raise awareness, foster the entrepreneurship ecosystem, and unlock opportunities for women and youth entrepreneurs to fully participate in socio-economic development for their county and the nation at large; remains at the heart of Eldohub’s engagement in the Biashara Pawa campaign.