Financial and capacity building support for women through the Hustler Fund

The Kenya Kwanza Government promised to provide financial and capacity building support for women through the hustler fund for women-led co-operative societies, chamas, merry-go-rounds and table banking initiatives and protect them from predatory interest rates charged by unscrupulous money lenders.

• In March 2023, the President launched the Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) Digital to provide access to WEF loans through the Hustler Fund platform, a move the he stated would accelerate the economic empowerment of women as the loans would be accessed instantly (unlike in the past where processing took 45 days) and at a low interest rate of 6% per year.
• In 2025, the Kenya Kwanza Government announced plans to merge the Uwezo Fund, Youth Fund, and WEF into the Biashara Fund to streamline access to financing for small businesses. The Government stated that the move was informed by the fact that youth and women were taking advantage of the current fragmented system to access multiple loans unfairly.