Youths in Nakuru County have been urged to take advantage of government sponsored development programmes to fight poverty and unemployment that faces most of them.
This was observed by the Nakuru County government Ministry of Trade, Industrialisation and Tourism Chief Officer Edith Kimani on Thursday when she presided over a Small Business Development Workshop in Teachers Estate organised by the Mawanga-Teachers Business Owners Association.
Kimani observed that many youths in most parts of the county were languishing in poverty and unemployment while there were many opportunities being offered by both the county and national government Ministries that could elevate their lives.
He noted that many youths were exercising ignorance and neglect in seeking information on government opportunities in business development and self employment.
“The State has put in place and is still working on more programmes that are targeted at empowering youths in the country,” said Kimani.
She added that it is unfortunate that many of the youths are ignorant of such opportunities because they have a natural negative attitude towards the government.
“It is my humble piece of advice that our local youth seek advice and knowledge of these programmes in many of our Ministries so that they can apply them to solve the challenges of poverty and unemployment,’’ said Kimani.
Apart from the popular Youth Development Fund, Officer Kimani said that her Ministry runs many development programmes including Young Entrepreneurs Empowerment Programme (YEEP) which targets Youths and Welfare Groups involved in small business activities.