Over 140 Small and Medium Businesses Enterprises (SMEs) showcased their products at the Realtors Expo in Nanyuki aimed at attracting investors in the region.
The event organized by realtor’s expo saw various businesses from construction companies, tourism and hospitality industries, insurers, community-based organizations (CBOs) among others interact with customers.
“We have brought different businesses to come and showcase their products in Laikipia. Our objective is to bring investors and see the existing investment opportunities in the county and at the same time partner with us to make Laikipia great,” said the Laikipia county development authority Chief Executive Officer (CEO) John Mwaniki.
The CEO noted that about 40 businesses in the county were among the exhibitors.
“The government insists we have incubation hubs and as a county we support their businesses to grow. Through that, there is job creation and spur of the economy,” he added.
Joseph Njuguna, one of the Realtors expo organizers said it was an opportunity for Laikipia to be advertised as a tourism hub in the Mount Kenya region.
“Our aim is to network and help Laikipia showcase its tourism potential and the available businesses potential in the sector,” said Njuguna.
Njuguna noted that plans are underway to extend their exhibitions services in other counties in bid to help investors identify the existing business gaps in the country.
Ann Gakii, an exhibitor of girls’ dignity products like reusable sanitary towels, baby diapers told KNA that through Binti Mwangaza CBO they help vulnerable young girls and old women in the Laikipia county acquire entrepreneurships skills by training them on how to use locally available materials to make different products and sell for their economic advantage.
She said, they have trained over 500 women in the region on how to manufacture reusable pads since they started in 2012.
Gakii noted, the three days expo that is expected to end on Sunday, June 26, 2022 would help her network with other organizations doing similar activities and from other counties aimed at empowering more women from vulnerable backgrounds in the region.
Some of the exhibitors had come from Nairobi, Mombasa, Nyeri among other counties. This is the fifth realtor’s expo to be held in Nanyuki.
