Skip to main content
More young people are idle than ever before. This answer those who have been wondering aloud how bases such as outside Hilton hotel are sometimes packed to capacity with humanity (no, most of the people are not picnicking). Just walk the streets of Nairobi, and you will find idlers  outside offices, hotels, stalls and restaurants. 


One thing that sticks in my mind is mainly the psychological effects of youth unemployment. We all know how frustrating and boring it is to be idle. Not only does it crush your self esteem, you end up feeling worthless and uninspired. While young people go to school, finish and expect to join the job market in order to meet  their obligations and expectations towards society, they later on discovered how without a job how unforgiving society can be. After a long period of absentee paychecks and diminished savings, a deterioration of the individual begins at the sociological and psychological levels. 


 Society views unemployment as a sign of failure, and rejects those who cannot meet the expectations placed on them. Sadly in most of our African cultures children are viewed as assets expected to give back after much investment in them. It is sociologically believed that stress, anxiety and depression shown by the unemployed youth is a result of pressure brought about by social expectations. These unmet social expectations then cast a dark shadow over any silver lining that might be potential hope. The consequences include increased risk of alienation, lack of financial resources, criminality, future exclusion from the labor market and ultimately, suicides or accidents. 

 Our work here at SKY TRUST is firmly rooted at engaging young people who feel marginalized and excluded (not limited to them though) by ensuring that we can reach out to the youth in our city and successfully assist them in building a sustainable lifestyle for themselves, regardless of their background, personal aspirations or academic ability. We engage youth in day to day activities and community development initiatives aimed at helping them improve their skills.


It is suffice to say that no man is an island. We all have an affinity and responsibility to help each other grow.  The sooner society embraces this fact then the more equipped it will be in terms of providing tailored support to help those young people who are desperate for work.


                                                           Creating Economic possibilities

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cyber Cafe with an EDGE

Followed up from Laying the Groundwork for a rural cyber I've finally got around to writing this. Thanks for you all who patiently waited. Although I approached the project as an "internet consultant", I soon realised I would need to implement the whole spectrum of tasks required to get the cyber running. I spent almost a week laying the structured cabling, installing the software, and configuring the network. Most of the work I was doing for the first time (e.g. drilling holes in concrete to fix the trunking screws) and most of it was hard, but all of it was enjoyable. I needed to prove the project was implementable with minimal human resources (if it was going to work elsewhere). With an eye on both troubleshooting by the owner and future projects I prepared detailed How To manuals for most of the tasks. So the day finally arrived, November 17th I connected all the PCs to the internet. The results were incredible, the speeds were nearly as good as my 256K broadband conn
36 comments
Read more

Differences between a Business Name (Sole-Proprietorship / Partnership) and a Limited Liability Company

While consulting for our online company registration service, Incorporator I find myself answering the question "What is the difference between a sole-proprietorship and a company?" Anybody who is considering starting a business must consider what type of business structure is needed for his or her particular situation. In Kenya there are three types of structures that one can use to start their business. 1. An LLC, or Limited Liability Company 2. A sole proprietorship 3. A Partnership A Sole-proprietorship and a Partnership are registered through the same manner (Form BN/2) with the exception that a partnership has more than one owner and although not necessary, entrepreneurs are advised to register a partnership deed as well. In this article all references to sole-proprietorship also include partnership. Understanding the advantages and disadvantages of each structure is important when deciding which one you want to use for your company.
15 comments
Read more

Selling stuff online to Kenyans

You might not know this but my love of entrepreneurship is fuelled majorly by my love of computer programming. My first exposure to computers was in 1988 when I played shuffleboard on an Atari. Having been raised in the boondocks I was utterly spellbound with the concept of a video game. In 'shags' we hardly ever got toys from the shops; instead we would create our own toys using locally available material. For toy cars we twisted and shaped wire coat hangers and cut out rubber tires from old (and sometimes mom's new) bathroom slippers. For planes, we stuck a stalk of grass through a dried maize leaf and made our 'propellers' rotate by holding them out in front and running into the wind (incidentally this was my all-time favourite). For marbles we hunted for used and discarded bottle-tops (beer bottle-tops were coveted). In fact we had so many toys that our game time never felt inadequate. That was until I discovered video games. Hard as I thought I didn't see
21 comments
Read more