- SMEP began operations as a small project of the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) in 1975.
- The Project started as a relief arm of NCCK providing the poor in the slum areas in Nairobi with food and later small business grants.
- It was later recognized that the project could not continue the feeding programme indefinately and therefore ways and means had to be sought out to make people participate in meeting their daily needs and avoid dependency.
- It is in this spirit that a credit scheme was born. In 1990, the scheme adopted the group lending methodology (adapted from the Grameen Bank model) through support from USAID. Since then, the programme has continued to grow and has recorded significant success.
- Later on NCCK made a decision to allow the programme run autonomously in order to address the problems of poverty and unemployment more effectively.
- SMEP was registered as a company limited by guarantee in April 1999.
- In 2009 SMEP became the first MFI in Kenya to partner with Safaricom M-PESA. This was to enable the organization to offer faster, safe and convenient services.
