cost, and improved security for both the banks and clients. at present, the central bank has approved 500 m - pesa agents, which is half the total number of commercial bank branches to serve as account origination points for the product. we expect to approve over 5, 000 agents by the end of july 2010. m - kesho goes beyond urbanrural money transfer. it attracts recipients to save the funds received for intermediation. this in turn enhances a culture of saving which will promote growth and wealth creation. finally, the central bank of kenya and the association of microfinance institutions ( amfi ) are looking for ways to hasten the speed of rolling out microfinance institutions. the mfis are an important vehicle for reaching out to the rural economy where most women in kenya are found. one bottleneck has been the branch network requirements and the investments required. the central bank is studying ways of overcoming these bottlenecks. ladies and gentlemen : as i draw to a close, i urge fellow regulators and policymakers to seek to understand the barriers to accessing finance by women. it is only by understanding these barriers that effective policies can be formulated to extend financial inclusion frontiers for women. financial institutions including banks, microfinance institutions and savings and credit cooperative societies also have a critical role to play. with a critical mass of women entrepreneurs, they will find a ready market form the women fraternity. ladies and gentlemen : as a driver of change, i would like to reiterate the commitment of the central bank of kenya, as declared during the african women ’ s economic summit, to improving financial access to women and enhance their opportunities to become key actors towards change and, ultimately, the development of our economies. i look forward to fruitful deliberations tonight and wish you a pleasant stay in abidjan. thank you.

financial services. you will agree with me that without financial access, the poor cannot save or build their assets – we will, therefore, have no hope of eradicating poverty from the continent. ladies and gentlemen : the government of kenya has played a pivotal role in the promotion of women empowerment and gender equality. the women enterprise fund, a flagship project created by the government of kenya in 2007, has been mandated to economically empower women by providing them access to affordable credit. through the fund, subsidized credit for business start - ups or expansion is provided and so are business training, market linkages and other infrastructure support to women - run businesses. through the revolving fund, women have been able to access loans and venture into a variety of productive economic activities and employment, which have triggered positive multiplier effects. these businesses have created jobs for the women themselves as well as thousands of other kenyans. increases in their disposable incomes have translated into better nutrition for their families, better clothing, healthcare, food security and education. the fund is also strengthening women voices and their decision - making, bargaining power in the household as well as within the community and the nation. the women enterprise fund ’ s motto that “ if you empower a woman, you have empowered a family and a whole nation ”, captures it all. ladies and gentlemen : given this scenario of access to finance for women, the timing of the african women economic summit was very timely. at the summit, we sought to explore the barriers to mainstreaming women in accessing finance and decision - making in the financial sector. more importantly, we sought to identify pragmatic approaches to breaking these barriers. at the end of the summit, various pledges were made by financial institutions, development finance institutions, network organisations and regulators. as regulators, we committed to identifying and addressing barriers to women accessing finance in the legal and regulatory framework. we would then identify innovative ways of mitigating these barriers. i therefore wish tonight to outline the progress made by the central bank of kenya. ( cbk ) in enhancing access to finance by women since the summit. the first landmark was on 31st march 2010 – barely two weeks after the summit – when cbk licensed the second deposit - taking nationwide microfinance institution, kenya women finance trust deposit taking microfinance limited ( kwft ). with a customer base of close to 400, 000 female clients, it is safe to say that kenya women finance trust deposit taking