Governor Jonathan Bii has called on the county youth participating in the Plug Mtaani Business Idea competition to put their best foot forward and bring the awards home as the County’s slogan reads “the champions”.
Speaking on Friday when he officially opened the program that aims at nurturing the talents of young entrepreneurs, innovative, resilient and determined youths, Bii said his administration prioritizes matters that are youth-specific noting that he will provide additional opportunities for youth to participate in other innovative ideas.
“We will work with other partners to see to it that provision of financial support is attained for our county youth to benefit,” noted the county Chief.
The governor further urged Plug Mtaani Business Idea leadership and management to look for other opportunities globally and link the youths for them to further sell their ideas.
The National Coordinator for Plug Mtaani Geoffrey Kilonzo said the program is targeting the youth who can transform various sectors in every county and enable them to move from job seekers to job creators.
Impact more than 200,000 livelihoods
He said the program will have three components focusing on training on innovation, packaging their business plans and how to scale up their plans.
Kilonzo also said mentorship and coaching will be availed to the youth reiterating that the program which will run for a period of ten years will impact more than 200,000 livelihoods across the country.
County Executive Committee Member for Trade and Cooperatives Martha Cheruto said the youth will be trained on the export market and financial management among other components.
The competition will also see the top three winners in every county pocket Ksh10 million, Ksh5 million and Ksh2.5 million respectively as counties also award their best three with Ksh100,000, Ksh50,000 Ksh30,000 respectively.
County Executive Committee Members Eng Lucy Ng’endo (Youth and ICT), Dr. Janeth Kosgei (Lands), Anthony Sitienei (Education), Chief Officer Geoffrey Tanui(Trade), Nahum Jelagat(Sports), Felix Kimaru (ICT)and various directors were among present.
