For most youths, unemployment menace is a reality that has been biting for long with their plight seeming to go unheard for long owing to the high number of educated youth joining the job market.
The government has therefore in the recent past advocated for self employment with creation of numerous means to provide funds to them to start businesses.
Mike Muthoga, a 24-year-old who resides in Naivasha, has however taken a different path to create his own business after years of frustrations in the job market.
His is an idea that was necessitated by the surroundings coupled by creativity and innovation.
Six months ago, he ventured into the business of making comfortable seats, this time not from wood but used tyres, an idea he says came into his mind after he searched for a job in the formal sector with no success.
“I finished my diploma in business administration two years ago and as usual, I started going around looking for a job for close to two years without success. One day, as I walked home from an unsuccessful job hunt, I passed by three guys sitting on an old tyre near a garage basking in the hot afternoon sun. I thought of ‘value addition’ immediately. When I got home, I thought of how I could venture into business by making something out of old tyres,” Mike narrated.
After some period of planning, he decided to collect used tyres from the neighborhood, which are in large supply after which he set up a small workshop in the outskirts of the town which is gradually growing after some people have embraced his idea.
Out of these tyres, he makes comfortable and very attractive seats which are durable and in addition helps in recycling the products.
Six months into business, the business is growing exponentially with some seats going for as much as Sh45, 000.
His advice to the youth is that the field of self employment is vast enough to accommodate everyone on condition that a little creativity is at work.