Sustained entrepreneurship will only emerge with the right reforms in education and labour

What you need to know:

  • Unemployment is only one symptom of problems in the labour market. There is also inequality

Many youths get into entrepreneurship to exercise their tolerance to risk and see what they can get back.

Having gone through the 8-4-4 system, all I was taught is to work hard and be first in class. I was never taught to harness my talents or appreciate failure. I was a product of a theory that has fared badly in the practical world, both in employment and entrepreneurship.

Not everyone is meant to be employed, and not everyone is meant to be an entrepreneur. Our education system has failed to capture and address this reality over the years. We have millions of theoretically well-trained graduates who cannot be absorbed into a more practical labour market that is both harsh and unforgiving.

With a youth population of 16 million according to Devolution cabinet secretary Anne Waiguru, many cannot enter into the workforce while others get stuck in low productivity work,  with unemployment at12.7 per cent.

Government may try to come up with policies to ensure that enough opportunities are available for young people, or that their skills match employment opportunities. They may even provide second-chance options to protect those who fall behind. However, this brings to the fore whether it is the role of government to create jobs.

NATURE OF THE CUSTOMER

The role of government is to create a conducive environment to spur entrepreneurship that will see job creators adopt all the workers who graduate.

Unemployment is only one symptom of problems in the labour market. There is also inequality. Within poor countries like Kenya, youth unemployment is concentrated among those from low-income families.

Labour market through organisations like Cotu or FKE must form the needed partnerships with educational institutions to develop better quality graduates who can compete on an international level.

Points of vulnerability for youth in the labour market must be addressed by both trainers and job creators.

Institutions should teach students to consider the nature of the customer, who is the end user of any service or product, and hone their research skills. Educational institutions need to study firms like Google to see how they have created sustainable growth from their employees, and how such insights can be used to develop a curriculum that many others can adopt.

These are some of the reforms in education, labour and government policies that can boost entrepreneurship and by extension address unemployment.