County Launches Nairobi Women Entrepreneurs Program

In January 2025, Nairobi County partnered with international donors and agencies to roll out the Women Entrepreneurship Incubator Program (WEIP), a transformative initiative designed to support women-owned small and growing businesses (WO-SGBs). The program provides resources, mentorship, and financial support to help women entrepreneurs scale their ventures. Applications opened on January 21, 2025, with a deadline of February 6, 2025, giving women-led enterprises across Nairobi and Kenya access to structured incubation and funding opportunities.
Momentum continued in July 2025, when the International Finance Corporation (IFC) partnered with Equity Bank Kenya and the Equity Group Foundation to expand support for women entrepreneurs. On July 21, 2025, the partnership launched the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women online course, offering practical business education and interactive training to thousands of Kenyan women. This was followed by a broader rollout on July 23, 2025, where Equity Bank, IFC, and Goldman Sachs announced free business training for 100,000 women-led enterprises across Kenya, including Nairobi.
The program has been praised by policymakers and business leaders for addressing critical barriers faced by women entrepreneurs, such as limited access to financing, mentorship, and global networks. By embedding training and incubation into the county’s economic agenda, Nairobi is positioning women-led enterprises as key drivers of innovation, job creation, and inclusive growth. Analysts note that these initiatives align with Kenya’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), which emphasizes empowering marginalized groups through entrepreneurship.
Looking ahead, Nairobi County plans to expand the Women Entrepreneurs Program to cover sectors such as agribusiness, creative industries, and digital trade. Officials believe that by investing in women entrepreneurs, the county can unlock new opportunities, strengthen competitiveness, and reinforce Nairobi’s role as East Africa’s innovation capital. If sustained, the program could serve as a model for other counties across Kenya, showcasing how targeted support can transform women-led enterprises into engines of economic growth.