The youth in Mombasa have a reason to smile after the launch of the Mombasa Entrepreneurship Resource Center for Youth (MERCY) which is expected to connect them to available opportunities.

The launch took place on Thursday afternoon at the Swahili Pot hub center in Mombasa bringing together youths and a number of stakeholders drawn from both the national and county governments, CSOs and international development partners.

Government spokesperson Cyrus Oguna who was the chief guest, reiterated that the government was keen on the youth agenda and was fully aware of the need to engage the youth in what was going on in the country.

He stated that the youth constitute about 75 percent of the total population in the country and as such were key players in the development agenda of the country.

“The government appreciates the strength of the youth that is why we have so many programs and projects targeting the youth ranging from Uwezo fund, Ajira Digital, Youth Fund among others,” said Oguna.

The government spokesperson added that despite all these initiatives and projects being put in place by the government, it was worrying that only a handful of youth were applying for the revolving funds and grants availed to them.

“I want to encourage the youth to make an effort to apply for these funds so that they can create a living for themselves, make use of the digital space to access government opportunities and tenders,” he said.

Oguna also called on the youth to shun away from violence especially perpetrating and spreading fake news on social media platforms, further calling on them to critically examine politician’s agendas before voting for them.

The Coast regional coordinator John Elungata stated that the government was soon going to launch the construction of 10,000 new classrooms to support the Competency Based Curriculum promising that a number of youth were going to be engaged.

“As you are aware, the government will soon launch the construction of the new cbc classrooms spread across the country, in line with our youth agenda, we shall engage the youth especially from the Kazi Mtaani phase 3 which will also be launched soon,” said Elungata.

He also cautioned the youth not to allow themselves to be misused by selfish politicians for political gains.

Mombasa county Commissioner Gilbert Kitiyo on his part called on the youth to make use of the platform to access government jobs and tenders while cautioning them to shun drugs and criminal gangs.

“The center is going to be a one stop shop dealing with issues of entrepreneurship targeting the youth of this county, it will operate just like CRB but this will be linking the youth will available opportunities,” said Kitiyo.

Kitiyo also urged those who had benefited before from the youth projects to repay back their loans so that other coming youth could benefit from the funds.

Swahili pot Hub founder and Patron Mahmoud Noor stated that the center was going to link the youth with funding opportunities and also provide them with training opportunities on entrepreneurship and business.

“Through the center, we shall be able to link the youth with funding opportunities from the government and private sector to international partners, we can attest to this because around 26 youth have so far benefited from a sh900,000 to Sh3 million grant from the Mbele na Biz project by the national government and World Bank,” said Noor.

He added that to address the challenge of lack of internet in interior parts of the country, the center will open up branches with small offices complete with a computer and internet connection, there will also be a personel sent to train the youth and connect them with available opportunities.