Youths to Get 500K Jobs in Newly Launched Platform

Jobseekers wait to hand in their documents during recruitment at County Hall in Nairobi, 2019.
Jobseekers wait to hand in their documents during recruitment at County Hall in Nairobi, 2019.
NMG

The manufacturing sector has made considerable steps towards tackling the national problem of unemployment among the youth.

In the sector's latest move, youths interested in getting employment opportunities and honing their skills in the manufacturing sector will have an opportunity to be placed in specific jobs of their choice.

This follows the formation of an online platform by the sector in collaboration with other multi-national organisations on Friday, November 26.

Job seekers in Kenya.
Job seekers in Kenya.
File

The online portal aims to create over 500,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector. The projected job opportunities will be distributed for a period of five years.

The platform other than just creating the jobs, it will also store details of potential candidates with their skill sets linking them to job opportunities within the sector.

The game-changing online platform was developed by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) in collaboration with the German Development Co-operation.

The implementation of this smart initiative will be implemented by the support of the Ministry of Education and all Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority(TVETA) stakeholders.

This comes as the rate of unemployment among the youths increased in the first quarter of 2021 before the lifting some of the containment measures that were put in place by the national government.

Kenya Association of Manufacturers CEO, Phylis Wakiaga, while speaking during a different forum on Friday, November 26, she stated that skills are important in the recent job market.

"We recognise that competitive skills are the key to industrializing our nation, turn us into a global manufacturing hub and drive fresh impetus into our economy," she stated.

The same sentiments were echoed by KAM chair, Mucai Kinyuha, who stated that the country needs to create meaningful jobs for youths.

"We have a population bulge, we need to create meaningful and stable jobs, which manufacturing is able to do. If we are going to grow manufacturing, we need to nurture both existing manufacturers and upcoming ones. We need to equip our young people to innovate. Our opportunities and capacities are huge among our youth."

This will be a one step closer in handling the high rate of unemployment in the country that has become a headache to many regimes.

File photo of Individuals Lining up For a Job Interview
Kenyans queue for job interviews in the past
File