MOMBASA, Kenya — President William Ruto has said young people now have expanded access to employment and enterprise opportunities through government programmes targeting housing, infrastructure, labour mobility, digital work, and education.
Speaking on Friday during the disbursement of Sh147 million under the NYOTA Business Start-Up Capital to 5,880 young entrepreneurs from Coastal counties, the President urged youth to take advantage of opportunities in the Affordable Housing Programme, modern market construction, institutional housing, and student hostels.
The funds were disbursed at the Jomo Kenyatta Showground in Mombasa following the completion of a mandatory four-day business skills training for the beneficiaries. The training is designed to equip young entrepreneurs with practical skills to start and grow sustainable businesses.
President Ruto said the Affordable Housing Programme alone had created significant employment, with about 500,000 young people currently working across 240 housing construction sites nationwide.
He also highlighted the government’s Labour Mobility Programme, which seeks to connect Kenyan youth to employment opportunities abroad through the National Employment Authority (NEA) portal.
“In the past three years, 530,000 young people have found work abroad through the government’s National Employment Authority portal,” the President said.
He added that travel documents for those recruited are fast-tracked, while the Youth Enterprise Development Fund provides financial support to facilitate travel and placement costs. According to the President, beneficiaries are required to repay the funds within three months of starting work abroad.
In the digital economy, President Ruto said more than 180,000 young people had secured work through digital hubs and Jitume labs established at technical colleges across the country, as well as through Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) centres.
The President also pointed to gains in the education sector, saying the government had hired 100,000 teachers and 3,300 college tutors over the past three years to address staffing shortages and improve learning outcomes.
He said the administration had adopted what he described as a deliberate and intentional job creation strategy anchored in specific, measurable opportunities rather than broad policy statements.
“For the first time in the history of Kenya, the government has a deliberate, intentional and practical plan of creating jobs and other opportunities for Kenyans,” President Ruto said.
On infrastructure, the President said the government is currently constructing more than 6,000km of roads across the country. He added that plans are in place to build an additional 30,500km, including 2,500km of dual carriageways, as part of efforts to transition Kenya into a first-world economy.
“This is a deliberate public infrastructure programme that will create jobs and ease the movement of people, goods and services,” he said.
In Mombasa County, President Ruto said 14,000 affordable housing units are under construction. He also announced plans to invest Sh1 billion in the construction of a stadium in the county and to work with the county government to establish a cancer treatment centre.
The President’s remarks come amid ongoing public debate over youth unemployment, cost-of-living pressures, and the sustainability of short-term job creation initiatives.
The NYOTA Business Capital Support programme is structured in phases. The government said disbursement to beneficiaries in Mandera, Wajir, and Garissa counties will take place next week, completing the first component of the programme.
