As an entrepreneur, Eric Mwaura had tried his hand at a number of businesses, with no success. With little capital and no support from the government, most of his business ideas died even before they took off. However, things changed for the better when a friend referred him to Romer Environmental Protection Ltd, a Chinese company in Kenya involved in the manufacturing of water treatment facilities.

"By this time I was working as a water vendor but the business had very little returns. On speaking to Romer, I was elated to hear that they were ready to fund my business by giving me a water treatment facility without demanding any down payment," Mwaura said.

"To my pleasant surprise, the company was even willing to install the equipment, train my workers and offer me free service in case the equipment broke down," he added.

Mwaura now operates Blue Spot, a fully-functional water treatment business in Ruiru town on the outskirts of Nairobi.

Speaking during the China-Kenya Industrial Exposition that was held in Nairobi in November, Qiu Fan, the general manager of Romer Environmental Protection Ltd, said that the funding they advance to business entrepreneurs such as Mwaura are credit facilities that attract no interest, with very flexible repayment terms.

"In as much as we are in business, our goal is to reduce water costs and have more people afford drinking water. To do this we decided to identify businessmen within communities with water scarcity and support them in making affordable water easily accessible to the people," Qiu said.