HEVA x NCBA
MOU signing on 6th December 2025
HEVA and NCBA have entered into a strategic partnership to expand access to affordable and responsive business financing for creative entrepreneurs. The partnership will deliver financial products designed around the unique cash-flow patterns, business models, and growth cycles of creative enterprises, enabling them to build, scale, and compete more effectively in the market.
For more than a decade, HEVA has mobilized over USD 40 million for the creative industries and developed innovative financial products specifically tailored to the needs of creative businesses. HEVA has invested directly in creative businesses across fashion, digital content, music, gaming, performing arts, film, crafts, and live events. Alongside this, HEVA has partnered with a range of financial service providers including Tenakata, Longitude Capital, and the Kenya Bankers Association and has formed strategic partnerships with aggregator platforms such as Wowzi and Shop Zetu to expand access to capital for creative MSMEs. More recently, HEVA has also partnered with Mookh.
Through these strategic partnerships, HEVA has already deployed KES 450M to creative entrepreneurs and businesses in 2025, with a plan to disburse KES 900M to the sector by the end of 2026. This new partnership with NCBA builds on that progress and extends it into the commercial banking sector, representing a major milestone in making creative finance accessible at scale.
The partnership is part of HEVA's broader mission to bridge the gap between finance and the creative industries, unlocking even more capital for a sector that continues to grow in economic importance. It also reflects the rising confidence among commercial banking institutions in the power, potential, and GDP contribution of creative MSMEs in Kenya.
Through a shared-risk financing approach, HEVA and NCBA are strengthening the pathway for creative businesses to access intentional, responsive, and affordable capital, allowing them to grow, scale, create meaningful jobs, and continue contributing to Kenya's economic transformation.
