— NIRAS Africa, in partnership with the Ministry of Industrialization, Commerce and Enterprise Improvement, has formally concluded its landmark “Kia to 50” program–an initiative that has empowered high-potential SMEs to scale innovation, productiveness, and sustainability.
Talking on the closing occasion, Florence Gatome, Head of NIRAS Africa, applauded the resilience of the collaborating small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly amid current world disruptions such because the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The journey from Kia to fifteen, and now Kia to 50, has been one in every of resilience and adaptation,” she mentioned. “Immediately, we have a good time companies that refused to surrender. As a substitute, they digitized, innovated, and adopted sustainable development methods.”
This system has supported over 50 SMEs to reinforce effectivity by embracing digital instruments, enhancing strategic administration, and streamlining operations. Lots of the corporations concerned reported tangible productiveness good points and elevated competitiveness in each native and world markets.
Notably, half of the SMEs that joined the unique 2020 cohort returned for the 2023 spherical, reflecting the initiative’s long-term worth and relevance.
Gatome emphasised three core classes discovered: adaptability, strategic foresight, and the facility of collective effort. She additionally introduced ongoing consultations to discover scaling this system to succeed in extra enterprises in future phases.