 a very good evening to you and thank you for joining us on Y254. This is our first show that is on Wednesday here 2021 and we would like to wish you a very happy new year. I believe the year is still new and tonight we're going to be talking about a topic that we've had this conversation several times. It's a conversation that people have had in different platforms and that is youth unemployment. We just try to reflect on the impact of the pandemic that is the COVID-19 throughout the effect that it has had on unemployment in 2020 and see what can we do to create more opportunities for young people the year 2021. What can the ministry of view the rather the government also help out in different ways to help us tackle unemployment? We try to look at skills. People have most of the time talked about skills mismatch. Is it really a problem that we have and how can we be able to solve that talk to us across our social media platforms that is at Y254 channel. You can also reach me at Patricia Murieki. Enter up and talk about this tonight. We have John Miner who is a CEO workmate. We want to be joined by the advisor that is Lydia Madhu who's a advisor to the CS ministry of youth but apparently due to some unavoidable circumstances she could not be able to join us tonight but we'll try our best here with the help of John to try and tackle these topic to the best of our knowledge. Welcome to the broadcast. Hello John how are you? Hi Patricia. Happy new year. Thank you for finding the time to be here with us. We know that with everything that has that transpired in 2020 very many things were affected by the pandemic and a report by the International Labour Organization that is below reporting that one of six youths has reported to have lost jobs because of the pandemic. This is a report that was done in August 2020 and the male demographic is the demographic that was highly affected. What is your thought on this report? Thank you Patricia. I think 2020 caught everybody off guard and especially the people who are young and the people who have already just started working it has affected across the SMEs which are now the biggest employers for these young people so you find that if the SMEs are affected then young people tend to lose the jobs and that is a big effect is a repo effect and I think we will need a turnaround strategy to be able to counter the effect. Okay before we even talk about like the turnaround effect or ways on how now we can be able to curb this problem that you have we've talked about unemployment in this country for very very very many times different people have held meetings conferences to try and address the issue on unemployment. What do you think is a root cause is it our economy is it not being able to adopt the people that come out of the workplace is it that our graduates are not skilled enough what would you say is our root cause our major problems that we are able now to talk about what solution do we render to that problem? Patricia I would say there's no straight answer just like a one fix solution to that problem because there's a problem that has built over time and as you can tell from now even the the effects of the pandemic you know they have just multiplied the effect but even before the pandemic this is a challenge that we have had of a high rate of unemployment and you can imagine like the retirement age you know is upwards of 60s going up and these are things that are also I think they're denying the young people a chance to just practice their what they have learnt in school they talk about a lot of mismatch in job placements I think on my opinion that the mismatch that is placed on the job is also brought about by corruption in the country. Okay the government during the pandemic different ministries tried to create ways on how the young people can engage themselves because we had the biggest number of young people out here because you know people students were not in school and these now increased the number of young people were very idle and they came up with Kazim Tani the I think the ministry of ICT came up with ways on how they can be able to engage young people we saw the film classification but coming up with a project where you you're able to produce certain content have filmed with your phone and be awarded something a certain token what is your thought on the Kazim Tani which there was some scandals around that because there were funds that were being misused there were young people showing up and not being paid their money based on how much they had worked there's a lot of corruption around that so for us to be able to even create good projects as a country and have this project benefit the young people that we're creating them for what do you think in what ways can people given these responsibilities do better focusing on the outcome of the Kazim Tani scandals that came out. Patricia I'll say it's unfortunate that when the the government seats I think with all the advices that they have and I wish Lydia was here so that we they can address how do they come up with the with the programs that they give out to the youth I mean we have skilled qualified competent young people out here but you find that the only projects that can be given out to the youth are the projects of you know just go out you know take out the garbage clean up I understand this can be the effect because it has the capacity to accommodate large numbers but even as you've said we have seen in situation where the the youth have already done the task but now again payment becomes another another problem so for me I think the government needs to like create some internship hubs you know work across with the public universities creates makeshift companies where now if these youth they when they the minute they come from their university they can be placed somewhere for a couple of time for them just to get their own skill own job you know experience that the employers out here so much want okay yes we know the young people in schools today this is the manpower we're looking at to help us create a better economy in the future these are people who can also contribute in our economy that is in terms of the growth that we want to see that every citizen would like to see in the country when you've talked about projects that the government probably brings about as a way to cope with certain measures like the Kazim Tani that was there because of the pandemic you've talked about we know how these people are expected to do is go clean things around their villages their cities and hollered and I'd like to bring you in in terms of roles and probably responsibilities or opportunities that are there in capacities where the youth can serve us we're not trying to disregard the Kazim Tani but to just try what you think we can do instead of the government coming and saying let us go and slash all these I saw the governor Machakos County talking about they would have come up with probably better ways to engage them than just going and having them clear bush and then next week the bush is going to grow instead they would have had them go build certain toilets in places where there are no latrines go be involved in a certain road work and hollered what is your opinion in a way that we are able to take these youths with their skills and provide for them opportunities and platforms in a way that we are still nurturing that which is inside of them all right great I think you have to look at it from a broad perspective because you know even the in terms of the job the people now who are employed okay when you look at them majority almost more than 70 percent of the employed they are employed on the you know not on the on the corporate sector but on the on the on the duocali sector and these tells you something that the most the majority of the jobs they are not formal jobs you know and that's why I think the government is tending to go towards that but we find that these are these are only places where youth or the young people who which are who are the majority in this country they are only using their their manual labor we need to develop opportunities where guys can can start using their intellectual that we you know stuff like having you know automating and I'm happy with the progress so far because we cannot say that the government is not doing anything the minister of ICT I'm aware they're doing something with Ajira digital just equipping youth with the skills and and personally I've attended some of the trainings which I think they are very beneficial and the problem that is the problem that is available right now is that we are not tapping into the intellect of the young Kenyans who are very bright and very sharp that that I can tell you for sure so now how do we do that how do we not just sit down people don't find themselves in a board room and sit down and say we've not decided that we're going to engage the young people in certain ways without even considering what is it that these young people need in what ways are they skilled now in how can we now be able to bring about projects that are going to benefit them because at the end of the day they slashed the grass but what next so how do we be how do we come up with projects that really meet the needs and the skills of the young people and have something that is long-term oh that needs a multi multifaceted approach because you know you have to segment these these people we have got people who are graduates we have got people who just finished their a class 8 and they did not continue with the education we have got guys who reached up to their form 4 level so you cannot as well bring a solution that will cut across all right so if you ask about the solutions and because we can take ages discussing the problems and the problems will still be there as young people we have the the the obligation to put ourselves out there and it's not all lost I mean now in these digital age in these internet era in this information age even the people who says that they do not have the skill I mean you have just to utilize what you have even even even Moses was asked what do you have on your hand right now we have got the opportunity it's a global opportunity we can become global citizens by using the internet in a productive way and that's why what we are trying to do with workmate digital what we are calling the virtual jobs find a platform is that we try to find the virtual jobs we source for them globally and just try to bring them locally and in the local level we try to give the skills through you know organized institutions like the high education the t-vets just try to show them this is how it is done because one of the major problems is that it's an information gap it's a knowledge gap you know the skills that are required for you to start making money online making money from home you know away from the conventional employment is that you can use the internet as a resource to equip yourself and start earning something okay I would like us to talk about adaptability and adaptability in the sense that we have people who have already graduated that are out here looking for jobs and they cannot find them they're doing their best to probably be diverse which is something that would like us to tackle probably towards the end of this interview but how can a young boy a young girl was being raised up in the village their mother's gotten an opportunity through the government sponsored program they're here joining the university and call that and every student that we have in campus right now in a college in a technical institute studying something and their hope at the end of the day is that how graduate and find a job but most of the times we are shocked when you come out here and these jobs are so so so hard to find so how now do we try to adapt we know what is happening out here how can teachers and lecturers involved with these students right now in what way can we help them grow or acquire certain knowledge that is going to help them cope with the situations that are out here because if I believe we we walked for example the University of Nairobi that is just right here if we walked in there has no student what is their hope it is that the day they get to graduate that is when they are going to probably get a job so I'm going to be taking your answer to that question when we come back let us take a very short break here on Y254 we shall be right back thank you for staying with us on Y254 tonight we're talking about youth unemployment if you're just joining us talk to us across our social media platforms that is at Y254 channel you can also reach me at Patricia Muriochi before I went for the break we're talking about adaptability and John I would like to take your answer on that in what way can we be able to prepare the young people we know how the state of unemployment is in the country how do we prepare them so that now as they get out here they don't come with so much expectations and we have young people falling into depression getting involved in things that are not right yeah Patricia I'll say to the young people that as much as we we like to look at the government as the source of employment we also have to like change our perspective in terms of what government what we expect from the government government has already created a very enabling a very enabling environment okay I mean in Kenya we are you know across the world we have a number somewhere in terms of the internet connectivity okay we know we have a single source of power which is Kenya power but they are doing a good job so with this kind of you know environment that has been created by government I would say going by the numbers even in the past the number of jobs created per year and the number of graduates that are coming out every year they they don't they don't conquer so what do we what do we do to address this situation and that's where now adaptability comes in we are now guys have to be very innovative we have seen guys making guys in the media space creating their YouTube channels creating their vlogs and that's an income stream you know we have to get out of that notion that I have to you know get from my journalism school and come to Y254 and become a news anchor you know this the space there is limited and the the the population is crowded so what do we do we have to come up with new ways we have to be remain innovative and cut niche I mean in the in the developed world I see guys doing niche business like for me I only focus on eyebrows and you become a master of that so that way the opportunities become big we are not all of us fighting for the anchor seat but now in media we in any industry if you look at all the components that make that particular industry you can identify a niche and run with it you know and it takes time the other thing is that guys want just to come out and just make it big it's a process it's it's it's a process you have to accept and respect the process to go through and I think even as workmate digital solutions what we are trying to do is to get to the to the youth and its impact on their skills while they are still in school so there is need to partnership from the schools the institutions that are offering these courses to partner with industry so that even where industry can say this is what we expect if this is what we expect and I know there's a lot a lot of free time and this is a resource that is the most expensive and this is something I say all the time everywhere I go like how do you spend your time because it's more important than the cash so there's a lot of time in between classes there's a lot of time after school sessions these people can be able to engage and nurture and grow their skills on what the job requires as you're going with the curriculum yes but remember the industry this is what is needed you have to complete your curriculum get your degree because that's the almost the entry level right now you have to get a degree to show that you're literate and you can be able to assist the companies but on the on the side on the side what outside here is called a side hustle on the side please have a side hustle to nurture your talent to nurture your skill and something that you can passionate about and sooner you'll be able to monetize that okay let's talk about skills mismatch I know you interact with a lot of people or a lot of candidates applying for jobs that is as a chief executive officer of workmate would you say at what rates probably zero to ten have you noticed that people are applying for jobs but the moment these jobs are presented to them they have the best grades best gps on paper but when it comes to the skills it is there is a disconnect at what first of all between zero to ten how much would you say your experience is problem 80 wow okay so how now do we address it how do we make sure that we're not just giving these students theory and not preparing them for the for the job market because at the end of the day the employer does not have time to train you they are looking to make money so how is it now that I will not come out of school I don't have the skills and expect that I'm going to go to a company have like a like one year training and the employer is not going to take that because I'm going to be let's say wasting their time instead of them hiring someone who is already skilled and can play the role I'll do it now practically solve that problem Patricia that's also a tough one because guys are applying anything that looks like a job okay right so they don't care but we tell them that we are hiring we tell them to be I mean if I notice my pool my my profession is crowded as there are no opportunities I'll just go draw in my CV elsewhere I'll give you a real life example just the other day somebody posted a job on the platform workmate.club and they just wanted one receptionist you're right it's a small shop here in town they said you know I want a receptionist who has this and this kind of experience and so we posted it up online on our platform and we pushed on social media within 72 hours we had 36 applications right and we thought that oh this is a lot who will go through all this stuff then waking up the following morning the applications were more than 180 so you can tell that that that need that is out there people are hungry to work for something and even in township you find that now when you announce for an internship even the qualified people are applying for the internship what does this tell you there's a big gap there's this labor that is ready to be utilized and we are not harnessing that power that power can be a big time bomb that can come up and explode but there's a way if there's a way we can tap into this potential and convert it into something that is productive and you know we are casting COVID-19 for every bad thing that it has done but for guys like us who you know promote the issue of even working from home work from anywhere provided you have your laptop you're connected to the internet this has been the biggest experiment the whole world has been told shut your doors and work from home and I know there are companies who will not reopen their doors there are companies who are going to downsize because they have realized look we don't really need all those people yeah we don't really not people we need the people but they can work from somewhere else and and this is also the thing that we are trying to show the SMEs that it's possible for you to use a platform an online platform to to hire to outsource remotely okay guys who have got experience so you only pay them for the quality work that they deliver you don't pay them you know you don't put them on a payroll and and the payroll becomes a very big it comes a very big giant that is killing down the SMEs the SMEs mortality rate is below five years within five years you know either the rent or the payroll and they end up now hiring you know substandard employees and this brings about the mismatch and it lowers the job quality and you can see how that is is rippling down okay as you wind up on these I know that for us to be able to create these opportunities every sector involved that is a young person that is a young person watching us tonight they have to change certain things they have to be diverse but I'd like us to talk about the government input and also the private sector input in what ways can they be able because we're looking at being able to create the the economy and make it grow so how can you be able to adapt to accommodate the labor that we have in this country and that is among the young people that is not utilized currently how do we do that has you wind up personally I think outsourcing is a great way to you know like knock off a big percentage of that because you've realized like companies who work with guys on shifts they have got high higher productivity because if the shifts are short and the guys you know don't overwork you know they stretch the sheets then the need there's always fresh manpower that comes in to relieve the other fatigued one so we can take this model and replicate it on our SME ecosystem that you only have a few permanent employees okay then now you can be outsourcing and this one will at least make the circulation the experience grow because there are young people who are called out to be entrepreneurs but look they have not even been given a chance to walk in on her on a boardroom yes to see how organization work and they can copy that and start their own so with this kind of approach I believe we'll have more exposure and we'll even create a better working society okay that is seconds a message of hope to young people hoping to find themselves in a certain company or to start a business or to do whatever way that is going to help them create income that is second message of hope a message of hope to me I'll say time is the biggest is the biggest asset that you have and if utilized well then you can be able to become whatever you want use the internet resource well use your time well spend your time as if it was money because literally is more expensive than cash okay thank you very much John for finding the time to join us tonight and share that I hope that they're going to be strategies brought up by different people that is a government that is a private sector to help us cope with youth unemployment and I hope that it is a probably the last time let's say the last year we get to talk about a very high rate of unemployment in the country as you heard from John take your time as a most valuable thing that you ever have and I hope and I wish you that pray that 2021 is going to be better for every young person watching us tonight thank you very much my name is Patricia Muriochi to have yourselves a very good night