Startup Kenya

In my head this is what I think an average entrepreneur is like.  Pretty young (think Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc.) living the red beans and rice lifestyle and working 80+ hours a week and sleeping under their desk.  On some parts, I’m probably right — but on many, I’m flat-out wrong.  This is demonstrated by a recent report from the Kauffman foundation for entrepreneurship.  The report is titled “ The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur ”.  It’s based on a survey of 549 company founders across a variety of industries. Here are some of the points from the report that I found the most interesting.  1.  The average and median age of company founders when they started their current companies was 40. 2.  95.1 percent of respondents themselves had earned bachelor’s degrees, and 47 percent had more advanced degrees. 3.  Less than 1 percent came from extremely rich or extremely poor backgrounds 4.  15.2% of founders had a sibling that previously started a business. 5.  69.9 percent o

I asked myself why most youth in Kenya, and youth in general, do not like agriculture as a career? Why do youth hate agriculture so much? Here are below are some reasons: 1.     Young people perceive agriculture as a profession of intense labor, not profitable and unable to support their livelihood compared to white collar jobs offer. They think agriculture would not afford them to enjoy the pleasures of owning a beautiful home, posh cars, the latest gadgets and mobile phones like what their colleagues in white collar jobs have access to. 2.     When one talks about agriculture or farming, in the minds of young people, they think of someone far down in a village living in a shack, who wakes up very early every morning to go dig coming back home at sunset. This farmer in their minds, is so far away detached from civilization, and barely wears any clothes and is the typical person who lives on less than a 100bob a week. 3.     There is a very high drive towards industrializati

As a student at Virginia Tech in the United States, Mogaka Mwencha would stock up on local Kenyan crafts while on holiday, and display them proudly in his room. His friends would gape over the artefacts and in the spirit of entrepreneurship, Mogaka sold selected pieces at a tidy profit. Little did he know that his passion for Kenyan art would culminate 12 years later in a business worth over Sh10 million. The first venture that the budding entrepreneur embarked upon was in 2000 with college mates from Zambia and Malawi. Through a website called ezuri, they sold African art to the Western market. However, the challenges of importing items, trade restrictions, packaging and transport prevented ezuri from growing. “But the opportunity was there; that was clear,” said Mogaka. Seven years later, he returned to Kenya with his eye keenly trained on online business opportunities. Internet-based “When I returned, I found a few guys setting up Internet-based businesses to facilitat

Young people in Kenya have taken up agriculture to heart, boosting their income and setting themselves up with the skills they need to make a living from agriculture. Receiving training from Farm Africa , these young entrepreneurs improve the quality of their produce and learn how to grow high value crops, such as tomatoes. The training also ensures that the young entrepreneurs tomatoes are packaged and well marketed. Greenhouse technology One of the young entrepreneurs learn about greenhouse technology, and improvised a greenhouse using locally available material and successfully established 700 stems of tomatoes. The harvest received brought in good income, and bettered livelihood. Boosting families’ income Ezekiel, a form three student receiving training, is growing 400 stems of tomatoes in his family’s garden. Obviously proud of his hard work, Ezekiel said: “I hope to sell off my produce very soon so the earnings will supplement my family’s income.” His father said: “W

Creating Economic Oppostunities

Young entrepreneurs are changing the face of Africa. Below is a list of the 30 Africans under 30 years old who are making the most dramatic impact across the continent. Cut across Real Estate, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Media, Tech,  Green tech , Healthcare, Agriculture and Fashion, the 30 young African entrepreneurs, disruptors and innovators featured on this list are impatient to change Africa. Together, they represent the entrepreneurial, innovative and intellectual best of their generation. They’re solving problems like healthcare and electricity shortages, proffering innovative solutions to waste management, building virtual and physical communities and creating lots of jobs. A few of them are manufacturing the foods we love, designing exquisite clothing for our women and some are developing some cool  apps for mobile phones  across Africa.  Not an exhaustive or official list , but closest to a definitive list Drumroll please.....and the best of Africa’s 30 Under 30 – t

A read I thought would be of interest: LITTLE might be known about Imran Khosla, but not so for those who frequent courts or those in the information and communication technology industry. His is a story of a young entrepreneur who has refused to sit and just wait for jobs to come but has decided with the little cash he has to start off his own business that is now giving birth to new ventures beyond what he had imagined. Now in his late twenties, Imran set up his first electronic shop which also sold computer accessories in 2008. “After hearing lots of stories about graduates who have had tormenting search for jobs to no avail, obviously that was not the route I wished to take. I wanted to create my own job, and be my own boss, this was the inspiration that threw me into the world of entrepreneurship, and four years on, I tell you all is well and you cannot believe it I have over ten employees, and whose turnover is running into fortunes now,” Imran says with a cheer. His journ

As we all know by now, at SKY TRUST we are all about youth empowerment. After my inspirational moment in my last post (your welcome), my attention was drawn to the evaluation of the Kenyan job market and its limits towards young people. Thanks to the restrictive requirements from employers and lack of application feedback, young people are being limited in the job market, they are not being provided with the support (at least none that I know of) they need to transition from education to work.  Lack of transparency in recruitment processes and a failure to tailor interviews for people who have no prior experience of work limits young people from accessing employment. Young people are caught up in a 'vicious cycle' as individuals without access to work opportunities as they are turned away from roles requiring experience. This factor prevents business from benefiting from a diverse pool of talent. So could it be a case of mismatched expectation? Its seems to me  that too many

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  (n o, 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 y oung 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 fa

Starting a business is not about how intelligent or wealthy one is, but about the practical skills and determination to do what you have to do. Young people in this country need to be show they have skill and talent to turn their lives into something positive.    Many young people are desperate to turn their lives around but find that they are excluded from formal employment because of their background – a lack of qualifications.They find themselves in a deep hole where all options appear to be closed. Personally, I think the jobs market is making a permanent shift and that in future people who can offer their own services will be in the strongest position. The traditional workplace, is evolving and there is already a trend towards more work being outsourced, thus the traditional long-term employment can't be relied on. The only way to be secure is to have the skills and knowledge to create security for oneself, and entrepreneur-ism  is the way to do this. Starting a business

I would like to take this moment and appreciate the goodwill of His Excellence President Uhuru and his Deputy Vice President Ruto for proposing 6 billion worth of funds to women and youth. What intrigues me though is whether youth need more money or more skills. Much as giving young people money to start a business so as to create jobs for themselves, is a great move, priority should be place on equipping them with skills that are needed to empower them in that business.  From observation, it seems that most youth groups, are set up to take out loans because they are available to them, but fail in business, due to lack of cohesion within the group.Because the group was set up for the transaction process (getting the money) its almost impossible for them to make repayments of the loan. Of course not all youth groups go through this, they are some successful stories, but they seem the minority. Kenya's youth need capacity building (skills), especially on the issue of busi