Demand for creative business loans in Kenya has hit KES 4 billion ($31 million), more than triple the $9.3 million a Mastercard Foundation programme has so far deployed, Sanara said.
Sanara, a three year programme backed by the Mastercard Foundation, said it had put more than KES 1.2 billion ($9.3 million) in loans and grants into the creative economy since 2024. Demand for its Ota loan facility alone has reached KES 4 billion.
The gap points to how hard creative entrepreneurs still find it to raise money, even as the sector grows. Sanara said it had financed more than 330 businesses, trained over 20,000 young creatives and supported more than 3,000 startups across six counties.
HEVA Fund runs the programme with SNDBX Ubuntu, Baraza Media Lab and GoDown Arts Centre, working in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Kakamega and Turkana.
Nearly 63 percent of the businesses it financed are led by women, and about 30 percent of borrowers had never taken a formal loan before, according to Sanara. Refugee creatives in Turkana have found buyers in Nairobi and abroad through its market access scheme.
Tabitha Masese, programme manager at HEVA Fund, said financing works best when paired with training, mentorship and market links. “The creative economy is increasingly proving to be an investable sector,” she said.
Kenya’s creative economy makes up more than 5 percent of gross domestic product and ranks among the country’s fastest growing sectors. Sanara said closing the funding gap would need government, investors and banks to work together.
