Who is KYB ?

The Kenyan Youth Board is an organization established to take care of the interests of the Kenyan youth in respect to commerce and entrepreneurship. The Youth Board is a non-profit organization based in Nairobi with the intention of expanding to the rest of the counties in Kenya.

We are working with youths and enterprises of all sizes.

Mission

​To make the Youth Board a vital part of business growth and success by protecting the interest of young Kenyan entrepreneurs and individuals through sharing of information and expertise.

Vision

To see young Kenyan entrepreneurs and individuals grow their businesses, capacity and abilities to surpass the national and regional arena and delve into the international arena in terms of innovations, startups and business modules that can be replicated by other countries.

Mandate

​The Youth Chamber’s main mandate is to facilitate an environment where the Kenyan youth can play a vital role in job and wealth creation. We seek to promote trade regionally and internationally by arming entrepreneurs with essential knowledge and skills to create a business hub that generates wealth and revenue for its country.

Issues that we address

Education, training and access to information

The youth board believes that there should be more effort to churn out blue collar workers whose efforts contribute significantly to the development and growth of the economy as today’s education is all geared to white collar jobs.

The current education system has created an evident gap in churning out market ready graduates to engage in economic activity without further training. This in turn leads to the need for relevant specialized training and field exposure for a skilled to make the graduates relevant to the market needs.The cost of education is also significantly high making it difficult for young people to pursue fields of their choice.

Access to information especially to the youth in rural areas is relatively low compared to their urban counterparts. This affects their access to material and opportunities which in turn passively impacts their personal development. In this day of integrated ICT communication, access to information is one of the main pillars of having an economically progressive society.

Initiative & work ethic:

Indolence, laziness, lack of initiative and non-participation are serious drawbacks in realizing the youth economic agenda. In a society with numerous social, economic and political challenges, poor work ethic and lack of initiative only compounds the problems.

Behavioral & social ills:

Kenya has been hard hit by alcoholism and drug abuse both in the rural areas and urban centers. This is due to hopelessness and lack of opportunities for the youth.

From another angle, indulging into this vice has affected the economic productivity of the youth, investment and over dependence.

Opportunities & support structures:

​The public sector cannot solely provide employment to all the youth, additional opportunities must be produced by the private sector and the youth to venture into startups and business. For this to happen, the government has to put in the necessary environment to create jobs and business opportunities.

The youths have to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the private and public sector either by securing employment, access to funds, business opportunities etc. For this to be realized, there is need for easy access and sharing
of information and capacity building for the youth.

Starting up:

​Young Kenyans turn to entrepreneurship to make use of their skills and rid themselves of job market frustrations. However, starting a business in Kenya is known to be equally frustrating, tedious, bureaucratic and hostile. This has a negative effect in the number of successful start-ups. There is need for supportive measures to be put in place to increase the number of successful start-ups and to ensure that these ventures remain sustainable and profitable over time.

Business capital: ​Availability of capital for business is vital for a healthy enterprise. Kenya’s capital markets are not adaptive and young entrepreneurs find it difficult to access capital to fund their businesses. This in turn leaves the youth with limited source of capital that is vital for the growth of their businesses.
Exploitation (Social, religious, economic and political):
● Social: Poverty and lack of opportunities results into social ills which greatly affect the youth mostly due to hopelessness and desperation. This leaves them vulnerable and easily exploited for unethical and even illegal purposes.
● Religious: Religious extremism leads to radicalization and religious hatred.
● Economic: Young entrepreneurs are prone to economic exploitation from corporations and organization that give them unfair business contracts, or worse steal their ideas and turn them into their own ventures. This may be as a result of the Youths’ inexperience in the market, ignorance and some are a result of deliberate act of economic sabotage for businesses. Bad remuneration for work done is also an issue that affects Kenyan youth. Skewed economic growth and lack of opportunities results in low wages in the job market and other unfair terms of employment.
● Political: Politicians exploit the goodwill of Kenyan Youths for political mileage and to further their selfish political ambitions. Consequently, youth engage in acts of political violence and put their own and the country’s economic development at risk.

Policy

Some government policies have in the past been more frustrating than supportive to the youth and their enterprises. This includes but not limited to taxation, access to government tenders and opportunities and ease of business registration among others. Additionally, there are hardly any legislation that shield the youth from exploitation in businesses.