NAIROBI — President William Ruto has placed a bold stake on Kenya’s young entrepreneurs and small businesses, casting them as the driving force behind the country’s industrial ambitions.
Speaking in Nairobi on World MSMEs Day, the President outlined a plan to train, mentor and finance thousands of young people across the country. The aim, he said, is to shift focus from supporting businesses in the abstract to investing directly in the people behind them.
“We are investing not only in business but in entrepreneurs,” President Ruto told delegates at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre. “These are not underdogs; they are the seedbed of our next generation of companies, manufacturers and industrialists.”
At the heart of the plan is a programme known as Nyota, which the President said would reach more than 800 young people in every ward. Participants are to receive skills training, mentorship and start-up capital, a combination the government hopes will translate into jobs and new enterprises.
Ruto’s remarks come as Kenya, like many African economies, grapples with high youth unemployment and a large informal sector. Millions operate outside formal banking systems, often shut out of credit and other financial services.
The President challenged lenders and investors to rethink that reality.
“What some dismiss as no opportunity, the visionary recognises as untapped demand,” he said. “The unbanked are not a risk to be kept at arm’s length. They are a market waiting to be served.”
He urged financial institutions to adopt new ways of assessing borrowers, including the use of mobile data and behavioural patterns, to widen access to affordable credit.
“The institution that learns to reach them… will not only transform our economy but also secure its own future,” he added.
For Dr Ruto, the argument is simple: small businesses are not peripheral to Kenya’s economy. They are central to it.
“The MSMEs are not the margins of the economy; they are its mainstream,” he said. “The MSME is not the waiting room of our economy; it is the engine room.”
The President also pointed abroad for inspiration. In Germany, he noted, small and medium-sized enterprises account for more than 99 per cent of businesses, employing roughly 60 per cent of the workforce and generating over half of economic output.
Many of these firms, often little known outside their sectors, dominate niche global markets. Mr Ruto suggested Kenya could follow a similar path, building industrial strength from the ground up.
Still, analysts say the success of such ambitions will depend on execution. Access to affordable credit, stable policy and infrastructure remain persistent hurdles for small enterprises in Kenya.
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