Kenya’s youth-heavy population is already placing strains on the labour market, which is struggling to accommodate the fast-growing numbers of youth. Society, moreover, is not yet allowing youth the voice and influence in decision-making that they desire. In the coming decades, the number of youth is projected to increase sharply, meaning that finding outlets for youth to express their potential will become an ever more pressing challenge. As the working-age cohort grows, the dependency ratio – that is, the ratio of those aged 0–14 years and aged 65 and over to people of working age – is projected to decline from 79 dependents per 100 people of working age today to 61 by 2050. Kenya therefore faces the opportunity and challenge presented by a youth bulge. If Kenya can provide jobs to its youth population and allow youth to play their full part in social and political life, it too will have the opportunity to experience a demographic dividend. However, with nine million youth in the next decade projected to enter a labour market which currently employs only 2.3 million in the formal sector, such a dividend is far from guaranteed. If the youth population continues to experience the high levels of unemployment and underemployment it faces currently, there is a risk of creating a ‘lost generation,’ which languishes in a stagnating economy and continues to depend on the older generation for financial support (AFIDEP).

More so, livelihoods and economic activities are highly vulnerable to climatic fluctuations in space and time given that most of the population in Kenya lives in rural areas and relies on rain-fed agriculture which is susceptible to climate change and extreme weather events. Land and environmental degradation is one of the most serious challenges affecting Kenya, causing an estimated annual economic loss of $390 million (Sh38.9 billion) or three per cent of the GDP. Degradation of water catchment areas due to human settlement, pollution, poor waste management and deforestation, agricultural activities, and encroachments has had huge impacts on environmental conservation efforts. With the ensuing youth unemployment and extreme effects of climate change, the youth cannot be assured of quality life in the future. Youth unemployment has been described as a ticking bomb, with frustrated young men and women susceptible to drugs, prostitution, or even being lured into terrorism. In 2013, amid increasing concern about youth unemployment and associated risks of political instability, the government of Kenya pledged to enhance employment opportunities for youth as part of its ‘Vision 2030’. The government committed to create one million new jobs, to encourage entrepreneurship through providing loans, and to earmark 30 per cent of public procurement for youth-led businesses. Until now, the policy has not contributed much to check unemployment and has been marred with cases of corruption and favoritism, thus, not fulfilling the intended purpose.

At Goblis Foundation, we believe that social enterprises will be crucial to the recovery post covid-19 and a more concerted effort is needed to prepare local communities to deal with the employment challenges that have been made dire by the pandemic. In this regard, a more concerted effort is needed to prepare local communities to deal with the unemployment challenges. We are, therefore, committed to an extended social entrepreneurship approach which will solve existing social challenges, and as well, stimulate community-based activities to address the unemployment problem. Jikimu Social Entrepreneurship Program is set to make a long-term change in the youth to enable them to break out of the cycle of poverty through social entrepreneurship, solve local challenges and create the next generation of leaders.

Through our Jikimu Social Entrepreneurship Program, we aim train 20,000 young people from the age of 18 through the age of 35 years old and empower 2,000 young community social enterprises every year for 10 years by creating a perfect balance between the social mission and entrepreneurship, to create employment opportunities to the underprivileged communities and protecting their environmental ecosystems. The program targets vulnerable and talented young men and women with community-changing ideas from underserved rural and peri-urban backgrounds. But these amazing youth lack the capacity, training, capital, mentorship, and market access, to bring a change in their communities through social entrepreneurship. We will start by identifying innovative ideas from talented social entrepreneurs in underserved communities with the motivation to solve social challenges whilst protecting the environment. We offer training to improve the talent, immediate opportunities are identified to solve social challenges, and the knowledge is amplified by the experts to improve and meet our objects where the social entrepreneurs are supported fully; morally, materially, and financially to realize a successful community social enterprise. Eventually, the solution is produced to solve a local challenge.