In a significant milestone for youth empowerment and enterprise development in Elgeyo Marakwet County, 800 youth have graduated from the KCB Foundation’s 2Jiajiri vocational training programme; marking a major stride in efforts to equip youth with market-relevant technical skills.
The graduands were drawn from 10 vocational training centers (VTCs) across the county.
The enterprise development training is courtesy of a year-long partnership between KCB Foundation and Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Work’s programme.
2Jiajiri Programme is designed to equip youth with the technical and entrepreneurial skills needed to start and grow their business.
By focusing on enterprise development across key economic sectors, the programme aims to unlock sustainable income opportunities and catalyze the creations of thousands of jobs across the country.
During the event held on July 15, 2025, 120 graduands also received business start-up toolkits to kick off their entrepreneurial journey. The 9-month training combines hands-on technical training skills, business acumen and enterprise development; thus, equipping youth as they start their entrepreneurial journey.
Speaking at the event, KCB Foundation Director Mendi Njonjo said “Our goal is to leverage technical and vocational skills as a direct pathway to youth self-employment.”
“We are intentional about nurturing entrepreneurship, particularly at the grassroots level where the need is most urgent.”
The graduation event was attended by key stakeholders, including representatives from the County Government of Elgeyo Marakwet, the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TVETA), the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) and the participating VTCs across the county.
To date, the 2Jiajiri Programme has trained over 35,000 youth, supported the creation of over 150,000 jobs, disbursed millions in youth enterprise loans and distributed over 2,000 business start-up toolkits.
