Zetech University is training boda boda operators in financial management, customer service, and business management, some of the areas that have been cited for collapse of start-ups.
Together with the Kenya Revenue Authority and the Traffic Police, the university’s School of Business trained more than 200 boda people from Juja sub-county.
Prof Alice Njuguna, Zetech’s Deputy Vice Chancellor in charge of Academics, Research and Students Affairs, said the programme unlocks opportunities to grow business.
Running for less than three months, the training undertaken at Zetech University Technology Park in Mang’u benefited boda boda operators mostly from Weteithie Ward.
Prof Njuguna said the initiative will enable the businessmen to make “a decent living as they explore vast business opportunities”. A number of boda boda operators say they live from hand to mouth, making it difficult for them to save and repay loans for motor-cycles they sign up for with various organisations.
Data from the Motorcycle Assembly Association of Kenya shows that the boda boda business in the country generates about Sh400 million a day, which translates to 3.4 percent of the country’s GDP.
A study by Car & General, a seller of motor-cycles, in March last year, showed that the industry makes up to Sh1 billion a day and employs more than one million riders.
“This sector plays a pivotal role in growing the economy even at the grassroots level and hence the need to support them with relevant knowledge and skills that will promote their business,” the DVC said.
She challenged other learning institutions to use their resources to cultivate cordial relationships with community members.
“It is therefore crucial for stakeholders in the education and government sectors to empower SMEs in the boda boda sector and help them explore ways through which they can expand their businesses.”
The beneficiaries hailed the programme, saying it would stabilise their venture.
“Most of us are toiling and moiling hard but end up saving nothing. We are, however, glad that this institution has opened our eyes and enlightened us on diverse ways we can grow our wealth from our business,” Lewis Kibe, one of the beneficiaries said, urging other institutions to emulate and extend support to various business sectors.
Millions of young people are joining informal businesses in droves “to be their own bosses” since they graduate from universities and polytechnics in droves but do not land formal jobs.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics for the quarter up to last December, more than two million unemployed Kenyans were giving up the active search for jobs.
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