By Joram Mwinamo – CEO, SNDBX
95 to 99% of all companies in most economies in the world are SMEs. Between 30 and 50% of the GDP is contributed by SMEs and sometimes up to 50% of employment comes from SMEs. When governments want to create jobs, they look to SMEs. Their cumulative impact on employment is usually in multiples and not incremental. If 100,000 SMEs create 1 job each, that’s 100, 000 jobs created. Corporates on the other hand, are known for restructuring and efficiency. However, for corporates to create these kinds of jobs it would take years and lots and lots of scaling.By Joram Mwinamo – CEO, SNDBX95 to 99% of all companies in most economies in the world are SMEs. Between 30 and 50% of the GDP is contributed by SMEs and sometimes up to 50% of employment comes from SMEs. When governments want to create jobs, they look to SMEs. Their cumulative impact on employment is usually in multiples and not incremental. If 100,000 SMEs create 1 job each, that’s 100, 000 jobs created. Corporates on the other hand, are known for restructuring and efficiency. However, for corporates to create these kinds of jobs it would take years and lots and lots of scaling.
Despite this large contribution, SMEs still don’t have a home in many economies. Their fragmented nature also fragments and mutes their voice. Their impact nonetheless continues to be felt.
A few of Kenya’s SME professional services experts came together and decided to create a forum, The Big Baraza, which is tailored for SME conversations by entrepreneurs and institutions that are interested in engaging with them, creating relevant products and services for them or developing them as part of their value chain feel heard and interact with each other.
The Big Baraza is an annual convention, organized by the SNDBX. This is an event for SMEs by SMEs. The Big Baraza is put together by fellow SMEs advocating for local solutions to local challenges for SMEs. We achieve this by applying the ‘Village Formulae’ of coming together to find these solutions.
The first edition of the Big Baraza, last year, was virtual. Despite the technical challenges and new experience of attending an hosting a conference online, we had about 500 attendants, inspirational speakers, who were SMEs themselves, corporates like Meta (Facebook), Jubilee Insurance, development partners and government agencies such as KRA, Communications Authority of Kenya, among others.
Feedback from the event was that it was one of a kind with inspirational, relevant and illuminating conversations from all parties invited. There were discussions on opportunities locally and regionally under the The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTA). There were also discussions on adapting to the COVID- related challenges; going digital and innovating when many industries were hit and some even grounded to a halt. The resilience and adaptiveness displayed by SMEs in the various stories that were showcased was impressive, encouraging and commendable.
This year Big Baraza is going to be a physical conference themed towards ‘Owning the times’ and learning how to spot and take up opportunity in adversity. We are looking forward to having SMEs interact with other SMEs and discuss frustrations of building a business, adapting to changes in the operating environment and positioning for growth, financing and scale. These conversations will also be held with key players in an SME’s life; Government, private sector players, the SNDBX experts, financiers and other SME ecosystem players.
This forum is also a celebration of what the SNDBX village is able to bring together when united in purpose. We have spent the last 2 years creating new products and services for startups, growing businesses and established or scaling SMES. 2nd generation businesses have also come through quite a bit to modernize and scale their family business holdings. We hope to expand this impact that SNDBX is having towards entrepreneurs in Nairobi.
We will showcase some of the most ambitious and innovative SMEs in Kenya today. There will also be practical learning happening at workshops from notable speakers who have built businesses themselves sharing their successes, failures and lessons that we can all learn from.
With confirmed sponsors and partners this year; Jubilee Insurance, Safaricom, Meta and KQ amongst others, The Big Baraza promises to be an enlightening and engaging conversation for all stakeholders.
We look forward to 2 days that finally put SMEs on the map, raise their voice and showcase their impact. Welcome to Big Baraza 2!
Registration details: www.bigbaraza.co.ke