Uwezo Fund- Kshs. 6 billion to riches or poverty?

President Uhuru Kenyatta finally made good his promise to unveil the Kshs.6 billion Uwezo fund- a fund for youth and women to launch businesses. The 6 billion was previously earmarked for the second round of elections. The maximum amount to be awarded will be Kshs. 500, 000 per group. A group will have at least ten members, and be registered with the relevant ministry.

The Uwezo fund takes from similar initiatives such as the Youth and Women’s funds, which have had mixed results. But is the Kshs. 6 billion really enough to lift millions of youth and women out of poverty, and into acceptable standards of living? The amount being disbursed to the youth isn’t the issue, but rather the quality and caliber of the successful applicants. Studies have shown that the success of a business enterprise has

more to do with the quality of the entrepreneur, rather than the business idea itself. This means that more care will have to be taken on who actually gets the funding, and the eventual training. Some skills can be learnt, while others one just can’t. It would therefore make sense to pick only trainable businessmen and women, those who have shown the highest potential that with the right funding and support, will unleash wonders from the seed money given to them.

Another issue is to balance between incubation- that is actually providing the entrepreneur with the right kind of environment to flourish- versus allowing the would be entrepreneur to experience the real brutal life of business, and eventually learn from their mistakes and failures, and then flourish. If the Uwezo fund takes to incubation, it would have followed in the same trends as other incubation centers as Kenyatta University, Ihub, and Mlabs.

But perhaps, the biggest caution would be to pour money aimlessly. Not all people are wired for business, and the fund must take cognizant of this. For those whose path is not entrepreneurship, but rather looking for a job, they surely must not waste time launching little projects here and there only for the projects to fail. They must be helped to find jobs, and internships that provide experience, and perhaps good salary also. However, for the few who show the most promise of launching a successful business, they must be given all support, and who knows, one or two world beating companies that provide hundreds, if not thousands, of decent, clean, and rewarding jobs will emerge.