At least 40 per cent of coastal youth have good business ideas but do not have the capital to actualise them.
This was revealed at a Youth Dialogue Forum in Mombasa held at the Bandari Maritime Academy on Tuesday.
Blue Biz senior programme manager Wangari Theuri said at least 40 per cent of the young people are living below the poverty line.
“That means out of every 10 young people, four of them are poor and are financially disadvantaged,” Theuri said.
Blue Biz is a programme by TechnoServe, a business solutions company, in collaboration with MasterCard Foundation whose aim is to create dignified and fulfilling work for 15,000 young people in the region.
The programme provides support in the blue economy value chains of coconut, seaweed, apiculture, eco-tourism and mangrove restoration.
Speaking on the sidelines of the forum, Theuri said young people need access to skills development and business training to structure their business to easily attract funding.
“Most of them are very entrepreneurial but their books are not in order. Therefore it’s very hard for them to access funding from traditional sources like banks and other financial institutions,” Theuri said.
They also lack access to information about initiatives through which they can get support.
“There is a lot of access to market opportunities, funding and enabling environment out there but they have no access to that. That is why Blue Biz, in partnership with the local partners, are here to help these youth gain this vital access,” Theuri said.
The company's Bahari Boost Challenge Fund is geared towards supporting the youth aged between 18 and 35 years in Mombasa, Kilifi, Kwale, Lamu and Tana River.
Initially, the organisation focused on Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale.
“Out of the 935 young people that we supported in the programme in the last one year, 30 per cent will be getting funding worth anything between Sh50,000 and Sh650,000,” Theuri said.
“We recently launched another cohort that will support 3,600 young women in the next seven months. This will be in the five counties that are of interest to us.”
Additionally, young people have little information about access to markets.
The programme will ensure some 280 participants are empowered to access markets.
“This includes their current markets and new markets,” the programme manager said.
The Youth Advisory Council has a crucial role to play in getting Coastal youth to venture into entrepreneurship, especially in the blue economy sector - the new frontier, she added.
The council helps articulate the challenges young people face so as to have them addressed.
Anna Bahero, an entrepreneur from Kilifi county, has been trying to get funding for her sea weed selling business, which she said has been hard to come by.
Bahero buys the sea weed from specific fishermen who venture into the waters for the commodity.
“This is a capital intensive business but I have had to make do with whatever little I can so as to start. The main thing is to start the business and see what your will will push you to achieve,” she said.
She is among last year’s cohort who will get funding for their businesses.
