Chase Bank Kenya has announced plans to launch an interactive Web portal and Business Club dubbed Kilele Planet targeted at the bank’s increasing SME customer-base.
Set to accommodate SMEs from different backgrounds as well as providing them with an advertisement platform, the portal is also set to enable SMEs easy access to auditors, lawyers, tax specialists, trainers and other industry specialists. It will in addition provide an avenue for networking and business development.
Chase Bank says Kilele planet will offer SMEs work tools including website purchase and airtime bundles for cloud storage and office use. Business Club membership will be automatic for users who open a Business Club account.
Chase Bank has entered into partnerships with the industry leaders, including Strathmore Business School, Safaricom, Ernst and Young, USIU and Chartis to provide preferential rates and services to their customers, to enhance the current product offerings and especially the Business club account.
The SME value chain cannot be complete without affordable credit facilities whose key function is to help this ever growing sector meet their business targets, says the bank.
Reflecting on Kenya National Bureau of Statistics’, KNBS, statistics that show SME sector employs about 80 percent of the country’s total workforce and contributes over 20 percent to the GDP, the bank says Kilele Planet will also seek to harness and develop Kenya’s workforce through SMEs
Chase Bank has since invited guests including Kenya ICT Board CEO Mr. Paul Kukubo and Dr. Gachigi, Director of the University of Nairobi Science and Technology Park to demonstrate the role technology and SMEs will play in bringing up a vibrant economy during the launch.
According to Paul Kukubo CEO of the Kenya ICT Board, Kenya is emerging as an entrepreneurial inclined private sector and through the Kenya ICT Board, is gearing towards the 60 percent SMEs automation.
Chase Bank says the portal is a result of extensive research and consultation with SMEs who currently work with the bank.
The portal is slated for launch in October this year.
