Kenya’s next generation of businesses will not necessarily be built around factories, machinery, land or buildings. Some will be built around a camera, laptop, fashion label, beauty brand or creative talent.
Yet when these entrepreneurs seek capital, they are often assessed using lending models built for a different economy: what asset do you have that we can take as collateral? That excludes businesses whose value sits in intangible assets such as intellectual property, brands, audiences and future income streams.
Globally, the World Bank estimates creative industries generate about $2 trillion in revenue and support more than 50 million jobs.
Nearly 80 percent of Kenyans under 35 work in informal, low-quality jobs, making enterprise support a jobs agenda, not just an entrepreneurship one. The World Bank’s Kenya Youth Employment and Opportunities Project helped create 125,000 direct jobs and enabled beneficiaries to employ 30,000 more. Yet access remains uneven: under the Bank’s SAFER programme, youth made up 22 percent of beneficiaries but only 11 percent of loan volume.
Banks have legitimate reasons to demand financial records, repayment history and collateral. But creative enterprises can offer other evidence.
A filmmaker may hold a distribution agreement; a fashion designer may have loyal customers and confirmed orders. M-Pesa and bank transaction data can also reveal cash-flow behaviour where collateral is absent.
At 36, Jimmy Jay runs a business far removed from the single-chair barbershop he started over a decade ago. Jimmy Jay Spa combines barbering, salon and spa services with a training academy, employing about 55 people.
In December 2024, he applied to HEVA Fund’s Ota Growth Fund and received Sh10 million in October 2025. The financing enabled him to source equipment from China, clear obligations, hire 13 more staff and invest in digital marketing.
Story Zetu offers another example. In 2019, Gathoni Kimuyu and colleagues were preparing to stage Tom Mboya, inspired by the Rusinga Festival. They had the concept and audience, but not the roughly Sh4.8 million required. HEVA’s support through its Sanara programme helped bridge the gap, allowing the company to move from a 350-seat venue to one seating roughly 640. The show sold out, running 22 times and employing about 51 people including cast and crew.
There is no single financing model for the creative economy. The answer is to expand the definition of evidence. Transaction records, purchase orders, signed contracts, recurring customers, receivables, inventory and platform revenues can demonstrate an ability to generate and repay cash.
Credit guarantees can absorb some early risk, allowing lenders to build portfolios and learn from borrower behaviour. Kenya’s creative economy does not need charity.
It needs structured capital, patient investment and financial institutions willing to understand how creative businesses make money, creating a system flexible enough to finance the economy already emerging.