Barclays Bank Of Kenya Invests Sh230 million In Youth Empowerment Initiative.
Barclays Bank of Kenya
is investing Sh230 million that will see more youths start successful
businesses, create employment or find meaningful work under their Ready-to-Work
initiative.
While partnering the
University of Nairobi, Strathmore University and Technoserve among others, the
bank intends to implement a three-pillar project. These pillars inclide;
education and skills, enterprise development and financial inclusion.
Barclays Bank of
Kenya Managing Director Jeremy Awori said that under this programme, the bank
plans to provide 70,000 Kenyan youths with the skills they need to attain
economic independence.
“Though so many young people continue to gain formal
education every year, the levels of unemployment in the country are still very
high. Through this initiative, we hope to train more of them on skills that can
assist them in developing the kind of skills that can help them start their own
businesses and attain economic independence,” said Awori.
In the education and skills pillar, the initiative plans to equip
the youth with the ‘Ready-to-Work’ skills and development necessary to secure
employment. The education pillar will be facilitated through digital and face
to face methods to guide applicants on how to look for work, what to wear and
how to conduct yourself during an interview, how to manage money and ways of
impressing colleagues and clients among others.
They will be assisted to build skills needed to make
transition from education into the world of work.
The enterprise development pillar is geared towards assisting
young people start, run and grow their own enterprises in order to create
income and employment.
For the financial inclusion pillar Barclays Bank will assist
in increasing financial service accessibility to the underserved.
Principal Secretary Higher Education Colleta Akinyi Suda,
praised the initiative by Barclays Kenya saying that it was through such collaborative
projects that the country will achieve substantial empowerment of the youth.
“We are sitting on a time bomb in the name of unemployment.
Projects such as those launched by Barclays Bank of Kenya are therefore
welcomed by the government as it supports its vision of creating more jobs and
empowering the youth in any way possible,” she said.
Historically, the rates of youth unemployment in Kenya and
the world in general is about four to five times more than that of the adult
populace. It has escalated into a major problem in Kenya, with the most recent
rises directly attributable to issues of the economy and insecurity. It has led
to emotional problems, reduced career potential and created further
inequalities particularly between communities. In fact, the financial costs of
supporting unemployment (both welfare and medical support) translates into
billions.
Kenya is habouring millions of young people out of school
and ready to work, but businesses need skills these young people never got,
resulting to a difficult school-to-work transition.
It is for that reason that initiatives like this will go a
long way in empowering the youth and creating the much needed employment. To be
part of these projects, students only need to sign up for modules accessible on
the Barclays portal.
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