A student from the Mount Kenya University has bagged Ksh3.6 million through the MbelenaBiz competition instituted by the Ministry of ICT, Innovation, and Youth Affairs.
The program seeks to help the youth in running enterprises and expand on business solutions in order to aid a business run successfully.
Mwanza Arunga, who is undertaking a Bachelor of Arts in Education, had a project that sought to set up an animal feeds processing plant in Kakamega County.
Further, another MKU student Sylvia Wanjiku, studying procurement, also won Ksh900,000 to aid her in setting up a chocolate-making business in Murang'a county.
The two students submitted their ideas in March 2020 and were among the 11,000 entries submitted to the competition.
Out of these only 750 winners were selected for their creative ideas and innovation.
This comes as President Uhuru Kenyatta had previously affirmed the government's commitment to helping the youth.
“I will advocate for youth involvement in youth affairs even after I retire from Presidency,” Uhuru stated during the inaugural Kenya ni Mimi Campaign Forum held in December 2020.
Uhuru noted that Ksh1.3 billion would be disbursed towards the youth. He also urged the youth to take up the funds in order to better themselves and their families.
The government has instituted different initiatives aimed at helping the youth towards development and employment opportunities.
Among the initiatives include the Kazi Mtaani project which has benefitted over 280,000 youths after its launch last year.
Another project is the Ajira Digital programme which aims at helping over one million youth access digital opportunities.
