The Plug Mtaani Vijana 2Invest competition for young entrepreneurs, which seeks to match company ideas with possibilities, is expected to have a positive impact on youngsters in Kiambu County.
The State Department of Commerce (MITI), KenInvest, RADICO Kenya, ICST, and Crescent 360 Limited are working together to deliver the programme on behalf of the county Department of Trade, Industrialization, Tourism, and Investment, Directorate of Industrialization.
Plug Mtaani/Vijana 2Invest is a foundational enterprise development programme aimed at educating youths on wealth creation and investments, among other financial challenges.
The initiative will give young people the skills they need to overcome financial obstacles, according to Nancy Gichungwa Kiambu, County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Trade, Industrialization, Tourism, and Investment.
“Plans to commence the programme in Kiambu County are already underway, where youths with business ideas from all over the country will undertake a five-day training on ILO-SIYB (idea generation and business plan creation),” said Gichungwa.
The CECM for Trade added that the competition will involve youths from different sub-counties who will participate in business idea generation and the creation of a business plan.
“The youth will pitch their ideas while the judges select nine categories, and winners will be awarded accordingly at the county aggregation parks,” she added.
She further outlined that the initiative will link the youths to their financial opportunities, grants, and investors.
“The primary agenda of the initiative is to prove a platform where youths will be guided to become co-creators of employment through partnerships,” she said.
Youth and Sport CS Ababu Namwamba stated in his statement at the Plug Mtaani-Vijana 2Invest program’s announcement in Nairobi last month that the project will span from the county to the national level of government, where winners from each category as well as the participants will be awarded.
The CS stated that the programme is mandated by President William Ruto, and that the President will present Sh10 million to the nation’s top young people.
