KCB Group is urging women entrepreneurs to formalize their businesses to gain better access to financing and scale their operations. The bank has already disbursed a significant amount to women-led enterprises under its initiative.

• KCB Group has disbursed Sh160 billion to women-led businesses through its Flame initiative by March 2024.
• Rosalind Gichuru, Director of Marketing and Communications at KCB Group, emphasized the need for formalization to allow lenders to assess financial records.
• Beyond financing, KCB Group reports that women now constitute 47 per cent of its workforce, with nearly 16 per cent in management positions.

Former nurse Bernadette Samura has launched Mom and Me Home Care, a company providing professional postpartum support to new mothers in Kenya, addressing a critical gap in postnatal care.

• The service offers trained midwives and nurse assistants who visit homes to assist with newborn care, breastfeeding, and screening for postnatal depression.
• Mom and Me Home Care was officially registered in 2024, with services primarily focused on Nairobi, Kajiado, Machakos, and Kiambu counties.
• Caregivers are required to be mothers themselves and undergo additional training to identify early signs of postnatal depression, aiming to prevent severe cases, which studies estimate affect between 10 and 27 percent of mothers in Kenya.

In Ongata Rongai, Kimaru Thagana has launched Gentleman's Pantry, an artisanal food business focused on traditional fermentation and preservative-free products.

• The business offers a diverse range of fermented botanical beverages, kombucha, preserves, condiments, and herb-infused beef tallow, with prices ranging from Sh250 to Sh620.
• Founder Kimaru Thagana, with a background in Computer Science, aims to revive traditional food preservation methods for modern consumers.
• Gentleman's Pantry operates on a small-batch, manual production model, emphasizing quality and traceability in response to growing consumer interest in nutrition and ingredient transparency.