"It is not about creating the next multinational, it is about creating a series of micro-businesses, giving you enough capital to start your own business, " said Ketan Makwana, from Rockstar Youth, one of the organisations administering the loans.

BBC: Start-up loans scheme expanded

Ketan Somaia, Dolphin's Kenyan boss and majority shareholder, it turned out, has declined to appear before Kenya's public accounts committee as part of an investigation into a company which Mr Somaia had represented as an agent and which had defaulted on an arms contract.

ECONOMIST: Southern Africa