Jeconia Omondi Olonde

ENTREPRENEURSHIP: KENYA’S ECONOMIC SAVIOUR?

The current economic condition for Kenya is on a down hill while the population growth rate is quite
high. This implies there is an increase in unemployment as the new jobs created cannot match the
increase in population. A situation is created where the youth are finishing university, college and
secondary school expecting to be employed yet the economy cannot accommodate them. This will in the
end bring social instability especially with the high cost of education.

But what can the government and the private sectors do to help alleviate the situation that may bring the
country to its knees? An initiative such as the Kazi Kwa Vijana was started by the government and has
ended as a failure, taking the country back to the maze. The Kazi Kwa Vijana could not have been
sustained as we can say the jobs given to them “do not add value” to the economy and the government is
spending a huge amount of money in paying recurrent expenses. Also some of the jobs given may seem
demeaning to some of the unemployed graduates. Telling an engineering graduate to clean trenches
shows that the government has no plans for its citizens who are meant to be assets.

Further, unemployment situations in Kenya have been increased by the high requirements by employers
in order to get jobs. Requirement of years of professional experience for jobs in Kenya has made it
difficult for the fresh graduates to get jobs and their Kenyan dream of finding that dream job after years of
education.

For the country to be able to create employment, the government and the private sector should highly
consider embracing entrepreneurship as a source of expanding the economy and reducing poverty. With
the shift towards technology, the government can use the youth to enhance and come up with new
technologies which will help accelerate growth and achieve Vision 2030.

Some of the ways in which the government can do to help youth embrace entrepreneurship are:

• Providing financial assistance and guidance. Many youth have good business ideas but translating
these to actual jobs is hindered by lack of knowledge of transforming ideas into feasible and
tangible work. Also financial guidance on how to spend the initial finance is necessary as the
projected financial statements are is not enough, for example, purchasing of essential assets,
marketing and branding, establishing of internal business controls, and book keeping.
• Providing mentors to the youth who come up with good business ideas or proposals. The mentors
are used to guide the youth especially through the tough times as they have been in the business
before and they know what to do best in such situations.
• Introducing entrepreneurship as a subject in schools so that the students are able to know early
enough how to start their own businesses and succeed. Mentality of students has to be changed

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Jeconia Omondi Olonde

from them expecting employment for them to create employment. This should be done for both
students in professional courses and those in vocational training. In the earlier years, it was
preached in radio stations and songs that at the end of education one will get a good job and this
mentality has stuck in the mind of the population. We should therefore start changing the minds
of people with regards to this.
• Providing tax incentives for young entrepreneurs who provide employment to others. There are
difficulties involved with business start ups and therefore the government should recognize this
effort by giving the youth tax incentives. This has been done to Export Processing Zones (EPZs)
to attract foreign direct investments. Local investments should also be considered important as
this brings more stimulus to growth as there are no profit flights.
• Patenting of special business ideas created by the young people. This may reduce the chances of
the ideas being stolen by other capable individuals or by corporations. Good ideas are known to
have been submitted to “wrong” organizations which take advantage of the weak protection laws
of ideas. These weak laws demoralize the young people with brilliant ideas who may opt to stay
with the ideas for long until they are able to finance themselves. Developed countries are known
to have proper laws protecting ideas created by its citizens and developing countries should
follow suit.

These are only some of the things the government should take into consideration if it has to help the
country become entrepreneurial. The effect of citizens creating job opportunities in the economy cannot
be over emphasized and the government has to act fast to improve the livelihood of its citizens.