This archive report was first published on 22 July 2019.
On July 22, 2019, the Government and the World Bank launched the MbeleNaBiz Business Plan Competition, a national initiative aimed at creating new employment opportunities for Kenyan youth.
The competition will award 750 successful applications with grants of either Sh900,000 or Sh3,600,000. According to Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya, the idea is to use the youth to generate employment opportunities for other youth through successful enterprises.
“We are investing in young entrepreneurs whose ventures will generate employment opportunities and earnings for other youth,” said CS Munya.
The competition will accept applications from new and existing youth-led enterprises from all 47 counties, as well as from young Kenyans living in the diaspora whose proposed businesses operate in Kenya.
Carlos Felipe Jaramillo, World Bank Country Director for Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, noted that the competition targets promising youth entrepreneurs who have a business idea or an existing business, with the ultimate objective of creating jobs for other youth.
“We have to support young entrepreneurs to create and grow their businesses, as this will further create jobs for other youth,” said Jaramillo.
