Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the National Bank of Kenya (NBK) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will benefit Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) registered suppliers.
The MoU between the two was signed on Wednesday at Kenya Revenue Authority headquarters, Times Towers, Nairobi in what both parties stated is going to boost the AGPO suppliers.
Over 350 suppliers registered by KRA among youth, women, and persons with disability will substantially benefit from the MoU that was signed by KRA Commissioner General John Njiraini and National Bank Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer Wilfred Musau.
Following the agreement, the suppliers will receive sensitizations and training from KRA on public procurement regulations and best practices as well as tax laws.
National Bank of Kenya will, on the other hand, support the suppliers with capacity building programs on entrepreneurship.
Further, National Bank has established a financing facility focusing on qualifying suppliers to KRA. The Bank will finance the qualifying suppliers to service tenders obtained from KRA offices across the country.
Speaking during the event, Mr. Musau said, “This partnership is a testament that the Bank is living up to its foundation objective of offering access to financial services to all Kenyans. We are committed to continuing impacting generations to enable progress as the Bank celebrates 50 years since our foundation in 1968.”
The aim of the AGPO Program is to facilitate the youth, women, and persons with disability-owned enterprises to be able to participate in government procurement. This through the implementation of the Presidential Directive that 30% of government procurement opportunities be set aside specifically for these enterprises.
It is an affirmative action aimed at empowering enterprises owned by youth, women, and persons with disability by giving them more opportunities to do business with Government.
The partnership aims at alleviating the capital challenges amongst the targeted special groups which are reflected in the negligible number of them who can competently apply for and win Government tenders.
In the Financial year 2017/2018, KRA set aside a total budget of over Kshs. 300 Million to AGPO registered suppliers. Currently, KRA has awarded tenders to the disadvantaged groups, totaling an estimated 330 Million shillings exceeding the organization’s target by 0.5 percent.
The agreement will deepen the partnership and cooperation that has existed between the two organizations in the delivery of their respective mandates to the nation.
Source: Soko Directory
