By Bonface Mulyungi
The government has announced that beneficiaries of the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) Project will receive the second tranche of business support start-up capital by June 30, 2026, following concerns over delays in the disbursement of funds.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the State Department for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development said all beneficiaries will receive the grants at the same time, unlike the first tranche, which was released in phases.
The announcement comes as thousands of young entrepreneurs enrolled in the programme await the next round of funding after completing business development training and mentorship sessions.
The government said the NYOTA Project, implemented in partnership with the World Bank, is designed as a job creation programme aimed at empowering vulnerable and marginalised youth through skills development, entrepreneurship support, mentorship, business start-up grants, savings mobilisation and market linkages.
According to the statement, the five-year project began implementation in March 2025 through its Business Support Component, attracting about two million applicants from across the country.
The State Department said the overwhelming response prompted a review of the initial implementation model.
“Though the Business Support Component was initially designed to be implemented through a phased-out approach of three lots, the overwhelming response from the youth during application, occasioned the review of the design following the intervention of President William Ruto and the leadership of the World Bank Kenya, the component was now rolled out as a one-off intake across the country to avoid pending the prospective youth beneficiaries for long and create room for potential scale up in the next financial year,” the statement said.
The ministry said a total of 122,147 youth drawn from all 1,450 wards across the country have so far benefited from the programme after successfully undertaking the Entrepreneurial Aptitude Test.
The beneficiaries have received business development support, including classroom-based business skills training and mentorship.
Most have also received the first start-up grant of Sh25,000, with Sh3,000 retained as savings under the National Social Security Fund’s Haba Haba Scheme.
The government said findings from mentorship sessions and the second round of business development training indicate that more than 99 per cent of beneficiaries who received the initial grants have already established businesses.
It attributed the delayed release of the second tranche to budgetary pressures arising from the decision to implement the programme as a single nationwide intake.
“The government acknowledges the increasing inquiries and the concerns from the beneficiaries on the disbursement of the second tranche and regrets the delay, which inadvertently is caused by the compression of the project and concentration of the attendant budgetary requirements in one fiscal year, necessitating budgetary enhancements,” the statement said.
The ministry said it is working with the National Treasury to address funding constraints and ensure implementation remains on course.
“To this extent, we wish to announce that the disbursement for the second tranche of business support start-up capital will happen by June 30, 2026, and all the beneficiaries will receive the grants at the same time, unlike the first tranche disbursement, which was phased out in clusters,” the statement added.
The government also urged beneficiaries and members of the public to rely on official communication channels for information about the programme and to remain vigilant against misinformation.
