MSMEs
VIFFA focuses on creating an enabling business and regulatory environment for MSMEs who form the backbone of African economies through GDP contribution and employment generation. VIFFA operate at the intersection of private sector growth, public policy reform, and international development cooperation and emphasize practical, evidence-based interventions that bridge gaps between MSMEs, governments, and development partners
MSME practice include:
- Policy Advisory and Enabling Environment Reforms: VIFFA supports the development and reviewing national/sub-national MSME policies, strategies, and regulatory frameworks to reduce barriers to doing business.
- Support to Government Programs: Providing technical assistance to ministries, department, agencies and counties or federal governments for implementing MSME development initiatives.
- Collaboration with Development Partner Programs: VIFFA acts as implementers, advisors, or evaluators for donor-funded projects aimed at MSME growth.
- Research, Diagnostics, and Thought Leadership: VIFFA conducts market/systems analyses, baseline studies, impact evaluations, and sector-specific research to inform programs and policies with key outputs being reports, toolkits, and policy briefs to influence decision-makers.
- Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Frameworks: VIFFA designs robust MEL systems for MSME programs, including KPIs on job creation, revenue growth, formalization rates, and inclusivity metrics, with a focus on adaptive management and evidence-based improvements.
Startups
VIFFA support for startups focuses on bridging the gap between innovative entrepreneurs, institutional funding, and systemic enablers. VIFFA operate at the intersection of private sector growth, public policy, and international development, helping to nurture early-stage ventures (often tech-enabled, impact-driven, or MSME-focused) across Kenya and the continent's diverse ecosystems.
Startup practice include:
- Program Design, Implementation, and Management for Development Partners: VIFFA designs, manages, and evaluates high-impact startup support programs funded by bilateral/multilateral donors
- Advisory and Technical Support to Government Programs: Providing expertise to national and sub-national governments to launch or scale public startup initiatives.
- Enabling Policies and Regulatory Advisory: VIFFA conducts policy research, drafts recommendations, and supporting advocacy for startup-friendly regulations and ecosystems.
Innovation
VIFFA focuses on building vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable ecosystems that foster entrepreneurship, technological advancement, research commercialization, startup growth, and economic transformation in Kenya and Africa. We achieve this through targeted support to development partner programs government programs (national or sub-national initiatives), and enabling policies (policy regulatory, legislative, and strategic frameworks that create conducive environments).
Innovation practice Include:
- Ecosystem Mapping, Assessment, and Strategy Development: VIFFA conducts comprehensive diagnostics of national or regional innovation ecosystems including gap analyses, stakeholder mapping, and formulation of multi-year strategies or roadmaps to strengthen connectivity, collaboration, and performance.
- Support to Development Partner-Funded Programs: VIFFA designs, implements, monitors, and evaluates large-scale donor-funded initiatives aimed at ecosystem building through technical assistance for programs like startup accelerators, innovation hubs, digital economy projects and youth entrepreneurship schemes among others.
- Technical Assistance and Capacity Building for Government Programs: VIFFA partners with African governments to operationalize national innovation strategies, digital transformation agendas, or entrepreneurship policies through technical support to ministries or agencies on program design, institutional strengthening, training public officials, and integrating innovation into broader development plans
- Enabling Policy Development and Advocacy: VIFFA supports national and sub national governments in crafting or reviewing policies, laws, and regulations that enable innovation, such as intellectual property (IP) frameworks, startup-friendly tax incentives, data protection and digital economy laws, public procurement rules favouring local innovators, or policies promoting open innovation and cross-border collaboration. We provide evidence-based policy recommendations, facilitate stakeholder consultations, conduct regulatory impact assessments, and support policy harmonization at regional levels
- Innovation Infrastructure and Institutional Support: VIFFA offers technical support to African governments on the establishment and strengthening of physical and virtual infrastructure, including innovation hubs, tech parks, research commercialization centres, venture funds, and talent development programs.
- Research, Data, and Knowledge Management: VIFFA produces research reports, foresight studies, ecosystem benchmarks and data platforms to inform decision-making.
Agriculture
VIFFA takes cognisant of the pivotal role agriculture plays in Kenya and the continents economic architecture. VIFFA operates with a multi-faceted practice focused on bridging research, private sector, public institutions, and smallholder farmers to drive sustainable, inclusive, and tech-enabled agricultural transformation in Kenya and the continent.
Agriculture practice include:
- Policy Advisory and Enabling Environment Reform: VIFFA develops, reviews, and advocates for policies, regulations, and strategies that create conducive ecosystems for agricultural innovation
- Program Design, Implementation, and Management Support for Development Partners and Governments: VIFFA provides technical assistance to bilateral/multilateral donors and government agencies in designing and executing large-scale agricultural innovation programs.
- Innovation Ecosystem Building and Acceleration: VIFFA offers technical support for agricultural innovation systems through research-to-market pathways, technology transfer, incubation/acceleration of agtech startups, and public-private partnerships (PPPs) programs.
- Research, Evidence Generation, and Knowledge Management: VIFFA conducts studies, pilots, data analytics, and foresight exercises to generate evidence on what drives successful innovation scaling with key outputs including policy briefs, toolkits, case studies, and platforms for sharing best practices across countries.
Space
VIFFA in partnership with government and development partners, focuses on bridging technical space capabilities with broader developmental impacts through leveraging satellite technologies, Earth observation (EO), navigation, and communications to address key African challenges like agriculture, climate resilience, disaster management, infrastructure planning, food security, urban development, and economic inclusion.
VIFFAs space practice centres on three interconnected pillars whose aim is to build sustainable, inclusive space ecosystems that generate jobs, attract investment, foster innovation (including startups and SMEs), enhance data-driven decision-making, and contribute to GDP growth through the space economy.
(1) support to development partner programs,
(2) support to government programs,
(3) enabling policies.
Creative Economy
VIFFA focuses on a multifaceted portfolio that bridges policy, investment, capacity building, and program implementation. We work at the intersection of culture, innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic development, recognizing the creative sectors as high-potential drivers of job creation, youth employment, gender inclusion, export revenues, and inclusive growth across the continent.
Creative economy pracitve include :
- Policy Advisory and Enabling Frameworks : VIFFA develops, reviews, and advocated for national/regional creative economy policies, strategies, action plans, and legal frameworks . We conducte policy gap analyses and providing technical assistance to governments for mainstreaming the creative economy into national development plans
- Program Design, Implementation, and Technical Support for Development Partners: VIFFA supports in the design and management of multi-year programs funded by international donors. We provide expertise in program piloting, monitoring/evaluation (M&E), impact assessment, and scaling successful interventions
- Government Program Support and Capacity Building : VIFFA offers techncial support to ministries of culture, trade, youth, or finance in implementing government-led creative economy initiatives
Research, Data, and Evidence-Based Advocacy : VIFFA produced sector mappings, economic impact studies, value chain analyses, and data repositories to quantify the creative economy's contribution to GDP, employment, and exports.
Digital Economy
Digital economy practice include:
- Digital Policy and Regulatory Advisory: VIFFA offers technical support in developing and reviewing enabling policies, legal frameworks, and strategies such as national digital economy strategies, data protection laws, cybersecurity policies, broadband policies among others
- Digital Skills, Talent Development, and Capacity Building: VIFFA supports in the designing and implementing training programs, digital literacy initiatives, and workforce development strategies targeted at youth, women, SMEs, and public sector officials
Financial Inclusion
VIFFA focuses on bridging gaps in access to finance, credit, digital financial services, and investment for underserved entrepreneurs particularly in Kenya and Africa where traditional banking reaches only a fraction of MSMEs and Startups. Our core mission is to enable inclusive economic growth by reducing barriers like high collateral requirements, limited credit history, information asymmetries, and regulatory hurdles.
Financial inclusion practice includes:
- Support to Development Partner Programs: VIFFA partners with international organizations to design, implement, and scale financial inclusion initiatives.
- Support to Government Programs: VIFFA works directly with African governments, ministries such as Finance, Trade, MSME development, central banks, and regulators to strengthen national SME finance ecosystems.
- Enabling Policies and Regulatory Reforms: VIFFA through research focuses on advocacy and technical support for policy environments that foster financial inclusion.
Manufacturing
VIFFA focuses on bridging gaps in access to finance, markets, skills, technology, and regulatory environments. We operate at the intersection of private sector development, industrial policy, and inclusive growth, often emphasizing manufacturing sectors where startups and MSMEs face high barriers but hold strong potential for job creation, value addition, and economic diversification.
Manufacturing practice centre’s on delivering technical assistance, advisory services, and implementation support through three main channels:
- Development partner programs
- Government programs (national or sub-national MSME development strategies, industrial parks/SEZs, export promotion, AfCFTA implementation, and youth/women entrepreneurship funds)
- Enabling policy work (policy formulation, regulatory reform, and ecosystem strengthening).
Retail and wholesale
VIFFA supports wholesale and retail sector in Kenya and across Africa by focusing on the blend of private sector development, supply chain enhancement, market systems strengthening, and policy/regulatory advisory.
We are the preferred partner that bridge development partners and government programs (national or sub-national ministries of trade, industry, commerce, MSME development, agriculture, or economic planning) to create enabling environments for formal and informal wholesale-retail trade.
Retail and wholesale practice include:
- Policy and Regulatory Advisory for Enabling Environments: VIFFA supports in developing, reviewing, and advocating for trade and market policies, licensing reforms, business registration simplification, fair trade regulations, and competition frameworks tailored to wholesale-retail dynamics.
- Support to Development Partner-Funded Programs: VIFFA supports development partners in designing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating donor-funded initiatives focused on inclusive market systems, value chain development and retail/wholesale modernization.
- Technical Assistance to Government Programs: VIFFA supports ministries or agencies in rolling out national strategies for retail/wholesale transformation