Entrepreneurship: Unlocking job oppotunities in Kenya.

By: John Muchiri

In the African culture a youth is a blessing to both his community and the world. In this context, then kenya by all measure is a rich country. Going by the 2009 census results 65% of kenyans are aged between 18 -35 years, translating to 26million people, with 65%-80% of this age bracket been either unemployed or under employed.
They work in low paid, insecure jobs and are the representation of the face of poverty that rocks our nation's fabrics.
Unemployment is pushing youths to social vices like crime and prostitution. The recent negative waves of crime in kenya are the spiral effects of unemployment.
This statistics should be an eye opener to us as a nation; we need to reconsider our priorities and direct resources where it is crucial.
The focus should shift from economic growth figures to impact of economic growth on the welfare of kenyan citizens.
Economic growth should translate to socio-economic empowerment of citizens of Kenya. I commend the initiative been undertaken by the government to encourage youth owned businesses.
I strongly believe that entrepreneurship in Kenya has never been more important than it is today; when we are faced with high unemployment rate among the youths. Entrepreneurship provides a way forward for solving the unemployment challenge, building sustainable development, creating jobs, and generating renewed motivation needed to achieve vision 2030.
Why do entrepreneurship matter? Lets go back to the 2007-2009 global financial crisis. It is evident that developed nations have identified SMEs as the engine room for economic development for the next decade.
I was reading the July 11, 2013 Daily nation 'money' pull-out and the interventions set out by the government to promote youth and women- owned businesses caught my attention.
The steps that the government is taking are in the right direction but more need to be done. Financing remains the greatest challenge facing entrepreneurs. The government need to increase the youth fund by fourfolds and educate the youths of the need to embrace entrepreneural culture.
Through entrepreneurship youths will be turned from job seekers to job creators. With proper incubation these youth owned businesses will be sources of employment.
Proper legislations will see the government revenue streams expanded. In Kenya informal sector employs 80% of the workforce. If the government implements a framework within which these SMEs operate, it can earn more revenue from taxes and registration and licensing.