By Bizna Brand Analyst

A few days ago, when we sat down with Spire bank CEO Tim Gitonga for a quick Q&A session. We asked him what the bank is doing to promote businesses owned by the youth. Of late it seemed as though KCB was the only bank making an effort with its ‘Tujiajiri’ and ‘Lion’s Den’ campaigns.  However, we were glad to find out that Spire Bank has its doors open to the youth at all times.

To make his point, Mr.Gitonga started by telling a story…

“Recently there was a 23 year old guy who initially worked for a gate wielding company. Seeing that his boss wasn’t doing a good enough job, he decided to start his own company. He saved around 300,000 shillings then came to us seeking a loan of 1.5 million shillings. He laid out his plans on how he will acquire contracts and make profits. The boy had no history of business but by the strength of his proposal we had faith that he would deliver, so we gave him the money. Several months later, he has managed to acquire three major contracts that earned him money in excess of four million. He was even contracted to work on Kenyatta Hospital’s playground”

It’s amazing that the guy paid his loan back in a short period of time. Mr. Gitonga says that such are the kind of young people his bank is targeting. So long as the proposal is good enough and the person behind it shows, promise, the bank will be ready to invest in them.

There are a lot of bright and ambitious young people out there who have no idea that they can get money to start their business easily from a bank such as Spire Bank. Instead, it’s the les-motivated ones that come seeking for loans and in the end they end up defaulting.

Mr. Gitonga says that the door is welcome for any young person.

“Come to us and we will sit down and talk,” he said.

Given that in most situations, you are only given a loan if you show what you are going to do with the money, it might be hard for young people in non-traditional businesses to lay out a clear plan. A business like blogging for example, hasn’t been around for long. So how can people like bloggers get loans to build their business?

Regarding this, Mr. Gitonga said, “Show us that there is demand for your product or service and we will work together. For blogging, demand is shown by the number of readers you get. If your figures are high, you have something investible. “

That quite sums it up. Don’t sit on your idea, come to Spire Bank and get funding .