The Youth Enterprise Development Fund celebrated its fifth anniversary with pomp and colour at a ceremony presided over by the President of the Republic of Kenya Hon. Mwai Kibaki. Notable guests from government and the private sector together with thousands of youth from various constituencies in the country also joined the Board, Management and staff of the Youth Fund in celebrating the historic day on 7^th February 2012 at the Bomas of Kenya Auditorium. The celebrations were a recognition of great achievements and strides made by the Youth Fund in addressing the challenge of youth unemployment in the country. In line with the theme of the anniversary celebrations, “creating employment towards vision 2030”,  the Youth Fund has continued to create employment opportunities for the Kenyan youth through enterprise development, market support & linkages, facilitating jobs abroad as well as commercial infrastructure.

Youth Fund efforts lauded

In his key address, the president recognized the remarkable efforts the Youth Fund had made in addressing the challenge of youth unemployment in the country since its inception in the year 2006. He noted that the Youth Fund had so far disbursed over 5.9 billion shillings to over 157,000 youth enterprises across the country. “Some of these enterprises have grown and are employing many Kenyans as well as contributing to the exchequer. These efforts have also resulted in the creation of over 300,000 new jobs” he added.  This is in addition to training over 200,000 youth in entrepreneurship as well as facilitating market support for their products and services. Over 6,000 young people have also been facilitated to obtain jobs abroad.

H.E.  President Mwai Kibaki unveils the new YEDF corporate logo

Government directed to procure from youth enterprises

The president directed government to allocate 10% of procurement to youth enterprises as a way to empower them. He noted that so far this has not been achieved due obstacles that continue to hold them back from accessing government contracts.”I direct the Attorney General and the Minister for Finance to remove the legal bottlenecks that hinder the youth from being able to access Government contracts. This way we shall accelerate the growth of youth
owned enterprises.” He said.

Recognizing that the challenge of youth unemployment cannot be addressed by the Youth Fund and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports alone, the Head of State called for concerted efforts from other government ministries as well as the private sector. He urged all government ministries to incorporate youth affairs in their performance contract and equally asked the private sector to partner with the government in securing the future of the young generation.

The Head of State said that the government will continue to support the growth of the Youth Fund through allocation of resources which currently stand at 3.8 billion shillings. This way the Youth Fund will continue to discharge its mandate and turn around the lives of young people in the country. “My Government will continue to support growth of the Fund. Indeed, having started with an initial capital allocation of one billion shillings, the capitalization of the Fund now stands at 3.8 billion Shillings.” He said.

Other invited guests who spoke during the event included the Vice President Hon. Kalonzo Musyoka, Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Hon. Dr. Paul Otuoma, Assistant Minister Wavinya Ndeti, Director-General Vision 2030 Mr. Mugo Kibati, and the chairman of the Youth Enterprise Development Fund Board, Mr. James Gitau Singh.

Young entrepreneurs awarded

The President also awarded young entrepreneurs who are carrying out successful businesses funded by the Youth Enterprise Development Fund. Twins March and Fridah, of Skywest productions were awarded the most outstanding female entrepreneur while Paul Ngugi of Bioplast Limited was awarded most outstanding male in the same category. Malindi deaf youth group were awarded most outstanding group in entrepreneurship while Butere constituency was awarded the best constituency in uptake and repayment of loans advanced by the Youth Enterprise Development Fund. The media and taxpayers were also given awards for their continued support in promoting youth enterprises.

The event which also doubled up as county sensitization forum for Nairobi County also included exhibition of various products showcased by young entrepreneurs in the country.

The occasion was also attended by permanent secretaries led by acting Head of Public Service and Secretary to Cabinet Mr. Francis Kimemia, the Chief Executive Officer of Equity Bank Dr. James Mwangi and other senior Government officials.