261 green entrepreneurs graduate under Stanbic business programme
Mercy Githanji, Executive Director and Head of Stanbic Kenya Foundation; Kai Mollel, Head of Stanbic Biashara Incubator; a beneficiary receiving her certificate; Julian Henseli, Advisor and Technical Team Leader for the WE4D Programme; and other programme representatives during the graduation of 261 entrepreneurs under the Biashara na Ajira Kijani Programme in Arusha. PHOTO I COURTESY
Arusha. Stanbic Bank Tanzania has graduated 261 small business owners across four regions under its Biashara na Ajira Kijani Programme, strengthening their path towards formal banking and credit access.
The graduating cohort, drawn from Arusha, Mbeya, Mwanza, and Tanga, completed three months of intensive bootcamp training and one-on-one mentorship focused on financial discipline, costing, pricing, and market access.
Female entrepreneurs accounted for 76 per cent of the class, running enterprises across five key sectors driving the country’s green transition: sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, the circular economy, the blue economy, and green transport.
Regionally, Mbeya led with 77 graduates, followed by Tanga with 64, while Arusha and Mwanza recorded 60 entrepreneurs each.
Speaking during the graduation, Kai Mollel, Head of the Stanbic Biashara Incubator, said the programme’s demographic split reflects the reality of who is leading green business ventures on the ground.
“We set out to find people already trading in green sectors and give them what the market was not giving them,” Mr Mollel said. “Seventy-six per cent of this class turned out to be women, and that tells you something about who is doing this work in Tanzania today. What we added was structure: how to price, how to keep records, and how to hold a conversation with a bank.”
Small enterprises in Tanzania frequently face hurdles accessing formal credit due to limited collateral, informal record-keeping, and thin credit histories—challenges that hit women-owned businesses hardest.
The initiative, implemented by the Stanbic Biashara Incubator with support from GIZ through the Stanbic Kenya Foundation, was designed to bridge this gap by pairing technical capacity building directly with a financial institution.
Julian Henseli, Technical Team Leader for the WE4D programme at GIZ, noted that combining skills training with direct banking support distinguishes the initiative from traditional training models.
“Training on its own rarely moves a business into the formal economy,” Mr Henseli said. “What makes this programme work is that the skills sit alongside a financial institution with a direct interest in seeing these enterprises grow.”
