The Informal Sector offers opportunities for employment of youth

Without renewing the debates about whether entrepreneurial talent is ‘born’ or can be ‘taught and acquired, it is understood that a very low percentage of the general population is actually inclined towards becoming an entrepreneur. So how can we accurately identify and target scarce resources to cost effectively reach, say the most promising.

Although evaluative study of youth entrepreneur development and start-up support programs in Kenya is rare, what little has been done follows international norms; less than 5% of youth who complete these programs actually end up becoming entrepreneurs. Not least, this experience indicates that few youth entrepreneur development and start-up support programs can effectively screen for best candidate potential entrepreneurs. This poses serious strategic and methodological questions that will take some time to answer.

All the same, we must find ways to address the crisis of unemployment among youth. There hasn’t been a shortage of ideas on how to invest in youth focussed enterprise development in Kenya but rather, the problem has been too much emphasis on design and risk control at the expense of trials and applied research. So we end up with programs that are overinnovated and overcomplicated like the Kazi Kwa Vijana (KKV) while all along the Informal Sector has displayed real innovation and creativity.

We are all aware that the sector faces serious challenges such as increased competition, inadequate physical infrastructure and lack of access to credit, etc, but there are more fundamental challenges that have not been fully appreciated and we haven’t even began to address; the main one being the problem of multiple competencies which has resulted in a situation where most operators in the sector are unable to effectively make the connection between what the market needs and what they produce which in effects limits the prospects for value addition. In contrast, this is readily available in the private sector.

As we strive to come to terms with the implications of the new constitution, particularly devolution, we must be assertive and ensure that we do not transpose the weaknesses of the present to the new institutions keeping in mind the key reasons the youth gave the constitution overwhelming approval. We must make every effort to address the following critical issues for which answers have been elusive. The need for:
a)effective screening for best potential young entrepreneurial talent
b)effective entrepreneur grooming strategies, these based on principles of risk reduction and leveraging first hand entrepreneur thinking and behaviour
c)re-conceptualizing the vision of the ‘young entrepreneur’ in ways that reduce risk and offset short run competence limitations
d)identification of strategies that lead to higher value addition and prepare young people to contend with tomorrow’s market conditions; and,
e)balancing the ‘young entrepreneur’ approaches with stronger emphasis on job creation and employment skills preparation.

Zungua Kenya is a youth entrepreneurship and employment program, initiated in 2010 to support young entrepreneurs through mentoring and incubation. Details available at http://outreachkenya.com/zungua/index.html