Some 3,500 youth have today graduated with skills in the construction sector courtesy of a deal between KCB Foundation’s 2Jiajiri and the German Government which is implemented by GIZ.
Speaking during the event, President William Ruto noted that the graduands will be a boost to the Kenya Kwanza government’s plan of affordable as the government seeks to implement its affordable housing agenda in the 290 constituencies in the country.
“We are deliberate and committed to change the youth story by creating more jobs working with corporates and other partners. We will incorporate the youth in all government projects, beginning with the housing agenda that seeks to create opportunities for 1 million youth,” said the head of state.
KCB Group Chairman Joseph Kinyua noted that the programme seeks to bolster the informal sector as it contributes to the growth of the region’s economy by providing the needed knowledge and access to capital.
“We are looking at raising the next generation of highly skilled and reliable masons, electricians, carpenters, hairdressers, and mechanics among other trades,” said Kinywa.
The graduands were part of KCB’s youth empowerment and job creation programme in Kenya dubbed 2Jiajiri which the group seeks to extend to other regions in the market where the lender operates in.
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The foundation targets to expand this programme and aid in job creation among the youth of Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda with an entry into South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“We are seeing a growing crop of bright-eyed young entrepreneurs whose passion is contagious and whose perspective of the world and the future is always exciting. We are giving them meaningful opportunities to start and grow their business,” said KCB Group CEO Paul Russo.
2Jiajiri targets to create at least 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs while helping to set up 30,000 businesses in the next five years.
“We leverage an integrated approach that includes upskilling to make small and medium-sized businesses more competitive, so they can meet the growing demand for supplies and services in the market. Ultimately, our goal is to generate more decent and sustainable employment in East Africa,” said GIZ E4D Kenya Team Leader, Mr. Thomas Jaeschke.
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The graduands were trained in the building and construction sector courtesy of a three-year regional partnership between GIZ’s Employment for Skills Development in Africa (E4D) Programme and KCB Foundation.
The programme has created 1,257 businesses in addition to 7,272 jobs directly and directly supporting over 10,000 households in the country.
Launched in 2016, the 2jiajiri programme has created over 119,000 jobs.
It focuses on formalizing the informal sector and growing microenterprises to create self-employment.
Since its inception, some 22,959 youth have received technical and entrepreneurial training and Ksh259 million in the form of loans has been disbursed to enable the youth to have capital to start their businesses.