MSC - MicroSave Consulting

Insurance emerged as an important part of the conversation at the Kenya National Fisheries Access to Finance Workshop.​

Victoria Oduor, Business development specialist at GA Insurance, shared how the insurance industry works with government and fisheries departments to better understand risks across the sector. She covered issues from cage placement to farm management and record-keeping.​

Better risk management can make it easier for farmers to access financing and for the sector to attract investment. It can also change how financial institutions view fisheries businesses, from high-risk ventures to more bankable enterprises with stronger systems behind them.​

MSC (MicroSave Consulting) organized the workshop under the Women and Youth Economic Empowerment in Fisheries program, to created space for exactly these kinds of conversations.​

Watch how the insurance sector approaches risk, resilience, and financing in fisheries: https://tinyurl.com/3p47er7a​

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Finance in fisheries collapses when banks do not fully understand the sector they are financing.​

This reality surfaced repeatedly during the Kenya National Fisheries Access to Finance Workshop, which highlighted why deeper sector knowledge matters for financial institutions.​

Dorine Nalo, Head of Programs at Stanbic Bank, echoed this: “It is very difficult for you to solve a problem for what you do not fully understand.” ​

Financial institutions may recognize opportunities in the fisheries sector. Yet, without a deeper understanding of how the sector operates, financing often remains fragmented or poorly aligned. Production cycles, risk patterns, and business returns all shape how the sector functions.​

Trust plays a key role. Banks need confidence in what they are presented with, whether that is records, production plans, or cash flow projections. That is why conversations like these matter.​

MSC (MicoSave Consulting) convened this workshop under the Women and Youth Economic Empowerment in Fisheries program. It is implemented by TradeMark Africa and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. The workshop brought together financial institutions, government, insurers, and fisheries actors to discuss financing gaps and understand the sector itself.​

Watch the conversation here: https://lnkd.in/gisyga89 ​

At the Kenya National Fisheries Access to Finance Workshop, the conversation turned to those closest to the challenge, which is young people working in the sector. They did not hold back.​

A youth participant in the panel said, "When we talk about access to finance, it is hard to put women and youth in the same conversation as collateral. In most cases, they simply do not have it."​

The discussion then moved beyond access to finance as a headline issue to what actually makes it work. Finance alone is not enough. Without links to inputs, markets, and the right skills, finance does not solve the problem. It just shifts the gap further down the line. Practical realities that shape how people engage with financial services also came into focus. “Imagine having a bank agent at the market. This will make things so much easier as we do not have the time to move back and forth.” It is a small detail that conveys how financial services need to fit into people’s daily lives, not the other way around.​

MSC (MicroSave Consulting) convened a workshop under the Women and Youth Economic Empowerment in Fisheries Programme to surface exactly these kinds of insights. The program is implemented by TradeMark Africa and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.

The workshop highlighted real challenges and what needs to change to make finance more practical for women and youth in the fisheries sector.​

Watch this moment from the discussion: https://tinyurl.com/786wpujw​