The government has issued another caution to youth as the second cohort of beneficiaries under the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) programme prepares to receive grants.
In a notice on Wednesday, November 12, through its official channels, NYOTA flagged apps that have emerged claiming to be associated with the programme, calling on youth to register for a chance to receive the Ksh50,000 grants.
The online apps pose as NYOTA project platforms, and proceed to require a certain amount as registration fee to complete registration.
But, according to NYOTA, the project does not run through a fund app, and all communications are circulated through official platforms on social media.
"NYOTA PROJECT has no fund app. The information being circulated about the fund app is fake. We urge the youth to stay alert," the notice read.
Youth looking to learn more about the program have been urged to visit a NYOTA project office or their nearest sub-county youth office for information relating to the project. Alternatively, they can dial *254# and follow the prompts.
Since the announcement of the NYOTA project, which is a collaborative effort by the government and World Bank, hundreds of thousands of youth aspiring entrepreneurs have applied for the grant.
Another Ksh4.4 Billion to be Disbursed
On Tuesday, November 12, President William Ruto confirmed that a further Ksh4.4 billion would be disbursed to NYOTA grantees from next week, with training set to kick off this Friday.
NYOTA, a five-year transformative programme funded by the World Bank, seeks to empower Kenyan youth by tackling unemployment, income insecurity and limited savings. Selected participants from each of the 1,450 wards across the country receive Ksh50,000 grants to launch business ventures.
Notably, the grant targets youth with fairly lower education levels, vulnerable and unemployed youth, including persons with disabilities.
Since its approval of the program by Cabinet in July, scammers have attempted to take advantage of youth targeting the grant in different formats, with the latest app scam coming months after several applicants of the program flagged offers to apply for the NYOTA program at a fee to get an edge over other applicants.
Amid anticipation over the second cohort, Ruto revealed that a large chunk of beneficiaries would stem from Nairobi after the training exercise.
"In the city of Nairobi alone, we will be looking for 6000 enterprises and we are going to give them Ksh300 million shillings. We want to do this to raise capital for the small entrepreneurs to scale them up," he revealed.
