State to splash Sh33b on job creation for youths

The government plans to spend Sh33 billion to create job opportunities for a million youth in three years through the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector. The sector is managed by the Micro and Small Enterprises Authority (MSEA).

Speaking at Musingu High School in Kakamega County on Monday, Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives and MSMEs Development Wycliffe Oparanya urged the youth to register for the government initiatives that will unlock opportunities.

"The government has a plan and goal to ensure at least one million youth get job opportunities in the next three years under various government programmes. This is a major project that we want to urge our youth to register so that they can get money for the business opportunities available, and the initiative will cost Sh33 billion with the sole aim of uplifting young people," said Oparanya.

Inclusive growth

The CS emphasized the State's commitment to empowering small businesses and promoting inclusive economic growth, through MSEA-led programmes such as the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) and the Kenya Jobs and Economic Transformation (KJET) Project, noting that they are central to the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda.

The CS said his ministry has mooted plans to support innovation and startups to sustain youth entrepreneurship. He urged the locals to join cooperatives and get registered to benefit from the government-led programmes.

According to the State Department of Cooperatives, the MSME economy contributes 85 per cent of non-farm jobs, which translates to 15 million out of 18 million workforce.

It absorbs nine out of 10 of the young people joining the workforce, 750,000 on average, while the formal wage corporate economy barely absorbs 50,000.

When thousands of young men and women showed up for government-advertised interviews for jobs in the Middle East. [Courtesy]

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, when properly established, MSMEs can generate an operating surplus of a worker of over Sh50,000 a month, adding up to Sh600,000 a year.

However, an estimated 10 million informal MSME operators and workers generate less than Sh5,000 income a month on average, which is below the living wage for one person.

Ikolomani Member of the National Assembly Ben Shinali challenged the youth to seize the opportunities provided through NYOTA and KJET while urging them to be innovative, apply for support, and actively engage in productive economic ventures to transform their lives and communities.

The MSEA team, led by Dr Caroline Kaua, said the authority will move around the 290 constituencies to teach youth how to access business development services, training, funding, and other support provided by the authority.