Building Growth-Ready SMEs: How Market Insight, Customer Understanding and Innovation Drive Business Success

​Every year, World MSME Day on 27th June shines a light on the critical role that small and medium enterprises play in driving innovation and economic growth. In Africa, this moment carries particular weight - the continent's startup and SME ecosystem is growing fast, but many businesses still struggle to grow because products and services are developed without sufficient understanding of customer needs, market dynamics and changing consumer behaviours.

​ASSEK and Spindle Design believe that closing this gap is one of the most practical things the ecosystem can do to support founder success.

​The ecosystem seeks to improve SME survival and growth rates through leveraging market intelligence and customer insights.

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​Hosts:

​The Association of Startup and SMEs Enablers of Kenya (ASSEK) is a membership-based association that brings together Entrepreneur Support Organizations (ESOs) working to strengthen startups and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), startups and SMEs across Kenya and East Africa.

​Spindle Design is a research, design and digital innovation company working across Africa. We partner with startups and SMEs to build products and services that work in real-world markets, even where resources are constrained, and user needs are complex.