Six of the Best Banks For Startups In Kenya

So last week we wrote here about our frustrations in finding a good bank for a young startup business – we had walked in and out of banks for hours and non struck us as particularly attractive for our young business. Following the article on Like Chapaa, we received a lot of emails and other feedback from a whole lot of people giving us advice on which banks would be suitable for startups in Kenya.

Are you a business owner? Are you planning on being one? For your banking needs, try one of these:

1. Equity Bank. Evans says, “Try Equity bank, I have a business Account with them and its good and even accessing credits is easy.They have helped in the growth of my business,so I m a proud member of the bank. All the best as you start your business.”
2. Chase Bank – Maingi says, “They are really flexible in terms of handling transactions for instance I comfortably transact without ID…in a nut shell they try to know their customers and treat them as such. Also there are good in Forex. Try them.”
3. Fina Bank
4. Bank of Africa
5. Eco bank
6. NIC

The banks in the above list are ranked according to the number of recommendations received for each. I hope you will find this useful.

All in all, the picture of banking in Kenya that I got from this experience is not good. At all. Our banks seem to be interested only in making money off their customers and they are very poor at supporting new businesses.

That said, I shall close this post with the best piece of advise that I got. Many thanks to the author, Sagongonyi. Thanks also go to everyone else who helped.

“Most banks will require a six months statement (minimum) for any meaningful assistance. It also depends on the nature of business you would like to engage in. For example if it is a simple transaction like you have an order to supply some items to an organization, Equity can finace you and you agree on how to share the profit.

There are other institutions like GroFin that can finance start up businesses but with a well presented business proposal. They will also require you to contribute a percentage of the initial capital outlay. They will also require you to personally manage your business and you will also share profits with them. They have assisted quite a number of my friends who import second hand Prime Movers. They are in Upper Hill CIC Plaza.

NIC are also good but they require you to have some experience in your business, even 3 months can be ok. Their systems are very good and you can get money in two weeks. They are very clear on what they want and they are very straight forward. They have financed my business for a period of three years now and i am not regretting. No bank can give you 100% financing for a start-up business; better start small and grow it.”