AID cooperative agreement no. 623-0238-A-00-4141-00 with Promotion of Rural Initiatives and Development Enterprises (PRIDE) for a micro - enterprise credit program

Funds will be drawn from the Anti-Poverty Lending for Enterprises (APPLE) fund established under project 9400403. Matching funds have been provided by the Government of Kenya (GOK) from the USAID/GOK local currency fund. PRIDE/K"s microenterprise credit program provides small short-term loans, mostly for working capital, to individuals who are self-employed or operate informal microenterprises; 45%-55% of borrowers have been female. The PRIDE model focuses on the formation of Market Enterprise Committees (MECs), each consisting of 10 Enterprise Groups of 5 members, who meet weekly for 8 weeks prior to loan applications to receive basic instruction in the program"s policies and regulations and to set up, through their own contributions, a Loan Insurance Fund which is used to cover defaults and mobilize savings. Targets under this grant are to provide small loans (average size: $290) to 8,750 borrowers, provide business skills training to 600 borrowers and refer another 190 to other training programs. PRIDE/K also aims at increasing the number of microenterprises served by banks; targets are to have 6,500 PRIDE/K borrowers open bank accounts and to have 87 graduate to borrowing from banks. A secondary objective is to strengthen PRIDE/K"s administrative systems and general institutional capacity. PRIDE/Africa will provide TA in these areas. Targets are to increase the number of PRIDE/K branches from 10 to 19, hire 70 staff members, and train 54.