Huge turnout marked the national Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) manual validation exercise with Nandi East Sub County recording a total of 2200 youths.
This is a five-year job creation initiative by the government of Kenya in partnership with the World Bank aimed at improving the livelihood of vulnerable and marginalized youths in Kenya
The exercise was officially opened by the Ollessos Assistant County commissioner Perminus Maina who called on youths to take advantage of the government’s initiative to improve their livelihoods through business.
Speaking to the youths at Ollessos National polytechnic, Nandi East Sub County youth Officer Hosea Serem noted that in this business support only 280 youths who meets the qualification will be selected out of the 2200 applicants who attended the verification exercise.
According to Serem the total number of youths who turned up from each of the four wards Nandi hills constituency are as follows; Nandi hills ward lead with a total of 900 applicants followed by Chepkunyuk ward and Ollessos ward with 500 applicants each and lastly Kapchorua ward had the least with 300 applicants.
The youth officer divulged that the final selection will be based on Entrepreneurship Aptitude Test (EAT) adding that to qualify for the fund one must be available at the ward of application throughout the project process, they should not be beneficiary of the Kenya Youths Employment and Opportunities Project (KYEOP), should be unemployed with education level not exceeding form four level and their age blacket should be between 18-29 years while people living with disability is up to 35 years.
“If your education level exceeds form four level you are not eligible for the NYOTA business support component.
Nandi East Sub–County Deputy County Commissioner (DCC), Ngalia Ndaya, advised youths who will receive the fund to ensure they embrace a saving culture once their businesses start earning profits.
Ndaya further encouraged the youths who will miss out to enroll in technical courses to gain skills that will enable them to compete in the current employment market.
“For those who will get this fund please consider it an investment. Ensure you invest in productive businesses that will uplift you economically,” pointed DCC Ndaya.
“I want to encourage youths who turned up for this exercise that there are a lot of skills that youths need to take advantage of. To fit in the current employment market you need to acquire technical skills,” said Ndaya
Present also during the event, a representative from office of the Nandi Hills constituency Member of Parliament, Wilfred Keter, lauded the initiative calling on youths who will qualify for the fund to utilize it wisely to start sustainable businesses that will uplift them.
Keter utilized the same forum to urge youths to form groups and register them to be able to benefit from other government funds like Uwezo Fund which is an interest free loan given to registered groups.
“I want to urge those who will have a privilege of benefitting from this NYOTA business fund to ensure they invest it in businesses that will earn profits,” advised Keter.
Youths led by Elias Kibet lauded the government for the NYOTA initiative calling on government to increase the fund to be able to benefit more youths who are unemployed.
Kibet noted that the 70 youths per ward is not enough as compared to the youths who applied for the fund and even turned up for the manual validation exercise.
“Am sure every youth who is here today is expecting good results. As you can see, we are more than the required beneficiaries. We are calling on government to increase the fund to benefit at least 100 people per ward.
By Ruth Mainye
