Sustainable job creation by youths can boost economy

Unemployment has become one of the greatest challenges facing Kenya and the globe. And with Covid-19 accelerating job losses by disrupting value creation and delivery channels, about 30 million people will be pushed to abject poverty globally.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics report indicates that about 1.7 million people have lost their jobs due to the pandemic, with a likelihood of Covid-19 related recession cutting more jobs.

This is an addition to the 2.4 million who were unemployed before Covid-19 crises - most of them youths aged between 18 and 35 years. While various policies and strategies such as skills development, funding and internship have been cited as the solution to unemployment, value creation is the key foundation of job creation.

Youths need to be trained on ways to create value using their skills, resources available, talents, hobbies and knowledge to create sustainable job opportunities for themselves and their peers.

Value creation is the ability to create products or services that consumers are looking for and willing to pay for. Value is the ability of a product or a service to satisfy people's needs or solve their problems. Mobile money platforms such as M-Pesa created value by ensuring users can transfer cash easily and conveniently.

It is this value created that has helped the platform to create jobs as more people are needed to distribute and sell this value to the needy customers. This means that job creation will only happen when customers’ needs are satisfied through value creation which is more difficult than job creation.

For value to be created, youths must be trained on identifying people’s problems and also have problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Youth ought to be trained to identify value (what customers are willing to pay for). Customers don’t buy products or services but value or benefits they will realise from them.

Third, the youth should learn how to identify and develop a value delivery system that will help them reach the targeted market. This entails studying target customers and identifying the best method to reach them. Lastly is engaging customers by creating relationships and listening to their feedback. This will improve the products and services offered.

The writer is an Entrepreneurship Lecturer at Kirinyaga University