“We believe that today’s small businesses are tomorrow’s conglomerates.” KCB Group CEO & MD Joshua Oigara
KCB Foundation on Tuesday launched its second cohort of the 2jiajiri programme which saw more 10,000 youths issued with technical and vocational training scholarships compared to 2234 youths during its pilot phase in 2016.
The programme which is designed to bridge the unemployment gap that exists among the youth caused by a lack of skills and limited access to business capital is expected to drastically impact East Africa’s economic landscape in the coming years.
The Foundation is using a franchise model and joint venture partnerships in a bid to link beneficiaries with training and market access.
The structure of the partnerships, said the KCB Foundation, allows 2jiajiri beneficiaries to have a stake in the ownership of businesses that they establish in conjunction with the partnering with some of the biggest brands in Kenya like Ashleys, Amadiva, Tuskys, Tuskys and Toyota.
Effectively, this gives them the edge they need to accelerate the growth of their enterprises and a fighting chance to build real wealth for themselves and employ many others.
The 10, 000 youths will be joining 70 vocational and technical training institutions across the country from this week to pursue various courses including; Building & Construction, Automotive Maintenance & Repair, Domestic & Catering Services, Beauty & Personal Care and Agribusiness.
Related; Tuskys wins contract to serve food to 10,000 2jiajiri interns
KCB Group CEO and MD Joshua Oigara also noted that they hope to scale up the beneficiaries to 100,000 annually which would create at least 1Million direct and indirect job opportunities by 2020.
“We are creating a social transformation and building a new eco-system of entrepreneurship by nurturing ideas and giving the bearers a chance to monetize them. We believe that today’s small business are tomorrow’s conglomerates. ” said Joshua.
Last year’s pilot phase of the 2jiajiri program saw at least 2,300 young Kenyans graduate after successfully completing technical skills training courses and some of them proceeded to either establish new businesses or secure employment opportunities with major companies in the private sector.
KCB Bank, Kenya’s largest bank in assets and profits has committed Ksh 50 Billion (Kshs10 billion annually) towards enterprise development loans for youth-led businesses that are established under this programme and is seeking more partnerships with the Government, Development Agencies and the Private Sector players to help reach the potential of the 2jiajiri programme to train 100,000 young people every year.
