In Kenya by now, we live in a unique time for entrepreneurship.
The mushrooming of online businesses, which are often seen as less formal, may not be regulated in the same way as businesses with physical locations.
It may seem like anyone can start an online business easily but there are so many security issues, whereby there are a lot of businessmen who scam customers, causing huge distrust among the potential customers.
Also, it is easier for hackers to get customers' financial details. Although every business activity conducted countrywide be it online or physically are required to have the common license and permit, some of the businesses, especially the online ones lack that requirement.
While the Covid-19 lockdown measures negatively affected the eating behaviour, physical activity, and mental health among many Kenyans, the period encouraged the establishment of online businesses and shopping scams. This is because criminals took advantage of the fact that locked down consumers were buying more items via the internet, while others were idling without any job and hence they were tempted to trade online.
Even though our country has not enacted laws to offer the sort of protection on online businesses to the youth, this needs to be done as soon as possible.
This will protect the youths from losing their hard earned money and savings that should have seen them secure employment and hence raising their standards of living.
The time is here for the Kenya Kwanza's government to deliver on its campaign pledges after several months of promising creating job opportunities for the youth.
If by using the expansion of fiscal policy, will the President create jobs by increasing spending on government projects alone? Will venturing into online businesses add on the provision of jobs?
The big problem is that the youth lack the knowledge of choosing the best business platforms for them. Over the years, the number of youths complaining of having lost money in such businesses is radically increasing, especially for the campus students.
If the government purposes to strengthen the online trading, majority of Kenyans would potentially engage in online businesses depending on a number of factors such as purchasing power, availability of suitable products, awareness of available opportunities, levels of literacy and degree of confidence in online trade.
By doing this, most of our unemployed youths would be able to raise their standards of living. Kenya, unlike in some countries where consumer buying and selling rights on the Internet are explicitly protected, it has not enacted laws to offer this sort of protection.
The past Kenyan governments have been trying their best to create job opportunities to every Kenyan with no success but if the current government set free the online trading, the youths will trade freely.
Emmanuel Rono is a student of communication and media technology, Maseno University.
