On Friday, the Government will hand out the second batch of business start-up grants to 122, 000 young entrepreneurs under the NYOTA Project, which will be yet another achievement in its efforts to encourage youth enterprise development.
Principal Secretary for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Susan Mang’eni stated that the preparations for the nationwide distribution are done after a meeting with President William Ruto at State House Nairobi during which they also updated him on the progress of the NYOTA Project’s Business Support Component.
Besides, she revealed that the release of the grants will take place at the same time in 18 different locations in the country, where the recipients from all the 47 counties shall be assembled.
According to Mang’eni, every grant awardee will get a further KSh 25, 000 at this time pushing the total grant package per person under the programme to KSh 50, 000.
Mang’eni further said this financial assistance isn’t only a grant but also supported by business development trainings aimed at enhancing the longevity of the businesses being run by the recipients of the funds.
She pointed out that a total of 122, 000 beneficiaries have so far completed their entrepreneurship training in the classroom and have also gone through the mentorship programmes meant to give them real, life business management skills before they get the second tranche of funds.
The NYOTA Project is among the government’s key projects that directly focus on economic empowerment of the youth. Through enterprise development, this project aims to support self- employment opportunities by equipping young entrepreneurs with start-up capital as well as business skills and mentoring.
The government’s Bottom, Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) which includes the initiative focuses on the growth of micro, small and medium, sized enterprises as the main sources of job creation, innovation and inclusive economic growth.
