KISUMU, Kenya, Sep 26 – 200 youths in Kisumu County are set to benefit from Plug Mtaani Vijana 2invest, a business idea competition for the youth that aims at connecting business ideas to opportunities.
Kisumu Deputy Governor Mathews Owili says the county is collaborating with the national government and other agencies to roll out the program.
The program is being implemented by the county department of trade, business and marketing in collaboration with the state department of commerce, Keninvest, RADICO Kenya, ICST and Crescent 360 Limited.
Owili says the program is designed to identify, nurture and sustain the talents of young entrepreneurs.
“The youth will be provided with soft skills and business plan development training,” he added.
Speaking in Kisumu during the launch of the program, Owili told the young people to seize the opportunity and participate in the exercise.
“This program is fostering a spirit of entrepreneurship, innovation, resilience and determination among our youth,” he said.
The Deputy Governor says the 200 youths who will be selected will have their capacity built in several interventions, to give them a head start in business ventures.
Among the interventions, the youths will be exposed to training on how to generate feasible and innovative business ideas, training on how to develop bankable business plans, linking of the youths to financing opportunities, grants and investors amongst others.
Owili said the sectors that are opened up for the competition includes, blue economy, agriculture and agri-business, manufacturing and value addition, information technology and digital services, renewable energy and environmental conservation, trade, transport and logistics and truism and hospitality.
“The county government is therefore inviting applications from the following sectors to register for the business competition,” he said.
The chairperson of Plug Mtaani Vijana 2invest Geoffrey Kilonzo announced that the competition is taking place in all the 47 counties across the country.
“I want to challenge the youth of Kisumu County, it is time to take this opportunity and run with it,” he said.
Kilonzo said the program is looking for innovation, creativity, youths who can identify gaps within the sectors and innovate around it.
The program will run from the county to the national level, where winners from each category will be awarded.
The best youth nationally will be awarded Sh. 10 million, first runners up Sh. 5 million and the second runners up Sh. 2.5 million.
Owili further announced that besides the national awards, the administration of Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyong’o too will award the winners at the county level.
The deadline of applications for Kisumu County has been extended to the end of this week.
