Varsities need to produce more entrepreneurs than job seekers

John Mung’oni was one of my best students who studied for a bachelor of education degree and specialised in the teaching of English language and literature.

After graduating three years ago, he was employed by a Board of Management (BoM) of a small secondary school in Kakamega County. His pay was Sh15,000 per month.

Within the teaching profession, one can only hope to be engaged by Teachers Service Commission (TSC) in order to improve earnings. These opportunities are not easy to come by.

SAVED SH5,000

That is why John started entertaining thoughts of doing something else. After serious reflection, he settled on starting a business. He had only worked in the school for three months and from his meagre pay, he had managed to save Sh5,000 only.

He chose to start the business of selling chickens. John had figured out that people around the county and its environs love traditional chicken and all hotels need steady supply of the birds. He first invested in buying 10 chickens at Sh450 each and sold them at Sh600 each. On that single day, John made a net profit of Sh1,500.

This was the beginning of a big business empire. John has so far established real-time chain supply visibility and supplies chicken to various establishments and to individuals. When I caught up with him six months ago, John was supplying 50 chickens every day and making a net profit of Sh7,500 per day, which translates into Sh225,000 per month.

EMPLOYED

Three years down the line, John has employed three people who go to various market centres to purchase chickens. He has built a holding unit of about 200 birds at every single moment.

John has also bought two motorcycles that help him supply birds in real time. I do not think I can feel ashamed of having produced such a graduate.

But the story of Job Mwaura is even more interesting. Job Mwaura studied for a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. Upon graduation, he was lucky to land a sales job with a leading telecommunication company in the country.

Mwaura worked for the company for six months, saving every penny that he earned. He knew that he needed to do something else to earn enough money to proceed for his master’s and PhD degrees.

GREENHOUSE

After six months, Mwaura quit his job and set up a greenhouse at the corner of his father’s one-acre plot in Eldoret. He also enrolled for a master’s degree at Moi University.

The proceeds from his greenhouse enabled Mwaura to pay for his tuition fees for his masters in full. In a few more years, Mwaura had made enough money to pay for his PhD degree and employ one person in his business.

At the moment, Mwaura is about to complete his PhD studies in South Africa. He told me recently that he would never have achieved his dreams if he had clung on his sales job at the communications company.

Such inspiring stories of young people doing great things in their lives by not looking for jobs, but creating jobs for themselves are many and varied.

There are some who start side hustles while at university which blossom even before they complete their studies.

As part of my research projects for the award of a master of Business Administration (Strategic Management option), I studied the lives of recent university graduates who have become entrepreneurs.

JOB CREATORS

The stories of these young people have convinced me that universities should aim at producing more job creators than job seekers. I think graduates should not fear to roast maize or sell gizzards and mutura by the road side.

Most of the jobs being created in this country are by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). These are the real vehicles for job creation. Government should support SMEs by creating a good environment for growth.

That is why young people should be encouraged to utilise the knowledge we teach them to innovate and pursue dreams that are beyond our comprehension as those who were brought up as job seekers of the 80s and 90s.

EDUCATED

We need a paradigm shift in perception of what it means to be a university graduate. This calls for a transformative philosophy of education.

We have to produce graduates who become employers in their first year after graduation. More importantly, we should produce graduates who are able to walk confidently into a number of careers and opportunities.

There should be nothing strange when a literary scholar runs an agro business or hospitality establishment. The hallmark of having been educated is the demonstration that you can perform jobs outside your narrow specialties.

The writer is a professor of Literary Communication at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology; [email protected]