The Kenya ICT Board PASHA Project has now completed the selection stage for the first phase during which have finalised selection of 37 candidates for issuance of loans.
Family Bank will now proceed to notify and negotiate final terms with successful loan applicants. The Board is optimistic that the first successful loan applicant will be issued a cheque just after Easter. For this first round, the 37 successful loan applicants represent 37 constituencies and 24 counties across Kenya.
The Loan applicants will be receiving an average of Kshs 1.8m each towards setting up or improving their centres. The money will be disbursed as a loan by Family Bank on the basis of agreed milestones which were set out in the loanees application. Interest rate charged will be 10.5% per annum repayable in 36 months with a 3 months grace period.
Between 24th January 2011 when the call for applications was made and 25th February 2011 at the close, Family Bank received 689 applications out of a total of 800 inquiries made.
The successfull applicants have demonstrated various business ideas within their proposed Pasha centres ranging from youth training, e-library services, website development, government services facilitation, teacher training, KCPE and KCSE online registrations software development to name a few.
Number of successful applicants is breakdown as as follows:
The Kenya ICT Board is working with all network operators to ensure all centres have access to reliable internet connectivity and have the ability to offer citizens a suite of relevant and compelling services.
This is only the first phase of the Pasha Loan scheme; we eventually want to create a Pasha centre in every constituency, likely by end 2011.
The Pasha project falls under the Kenya ICT Board’s digital inclusion pillar which aims to increase access to ICTs by citizens across Kenya. It complements the other Kenya ICT Board agenda to stimulate job and wealth creation in ICT through entrepreneurship and is in line with Kenya’s Vision 2030.