Feature: Kenyan youth ventures into business from recycling waste materials

Assembling pieces of fabric, leather and tyres into sandals has been Isaac Kamau's job for the last three years in Kenyan county of Nakuru.

For eight hours a day, Kamau turns the material that would rather be disposed off in the dumpsite or burnt in the open field into luxurious footwear.

The 35-year-old living in Flamingo, an estate to the east of Nakuru town, about two-hour drive away from the capital city Nairobi, draws an income from selling self-made sandals.

He has a list of orders from as far as Tanzania and Rwanda, and he must meet the mutually agreed deadline. Otherwise, he will be branded unreliable supplier and perhaps eventually loose the customers.

"It is encouraging that many people from across the East African region have come to love the sandals," Kamau told Xinhua during a recent interview.

Importantly, Kamau is exploiting his creativity and talent to utilize raw materials commonly destroyed for having lost value during production of the main products such as clothes and couches.

For the eight hours, Kamau makes six pairs of the sandals. He sells a pair of the adult sandals at 7.78 U.S. dollars while those for children, 3.33 dollars.

Even though he is graciously becoming a popular manual producer of the footwear suitable for hot weather, Kamau acknowledges his deficiency in entrepreneurial skills. And this greatly affected his uptake in the initial months of his venture.

"I made losses during the first six months. I sold at the price appropriate to the customers and ended up gaining nothing," he said."I do not have much of exposure on where to sell my sandals or how to network. I basically get orders through referrals."

Business ventures revolving around recycling waste materials are gaining popularity in the East African country, especially among the youth.

While they directly result to generation of an income for the below 35 citizens who constitute half of the Kenyan population, indirectly they contribute to reduction of the emission of the global warming gases.

Kamau is among hundreds of youth in Kenya struggling to capitalize on their talents and creativity to survive. However, they are facing challenges of lack of access to essential information critical to their progressive development.

Various studies done on the contribution of youth to economies in countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular Kenya, have often identified lack of commitment towards investing in training youth on innovation, technology and entrepreneurship as impeding factors.

"It is important that the youth understand the dynamics involved in business, such that they do not find themselves in a dilemma after the whole production process," said Professor Tom Nyamache, a Kenyan economist.

Significantly, the World Bank has been making recommendations to governments in the African countries to strategise and implement programmes intended at exploiting skills and talents the youth posses.

This, according to the bank, is key to addressing unemployment, poverty and high disease prevalence levels in the developing nations.

Nyamache observed that although Kenyan youth are innovative, they have little knowledge on how to convert their abilities into money.

"For instance, it is one thing to make sandals and it is another to secure a profitable market and be able to make a sell," he argued.

Penetration through the local and regional market has become stiff as the consumer preferences continue to change, demanding for production of competitive products, Nyamache noted.

"It is critical that the government invests in training the youth, especially those in the rural areas on the various aspects of production and marketing," he said.

Developing an economy driven by skills and knowledge is a target mapped out in the country's Vision 2030, a blueprint for its social, economic, political and cultural development.

"It will require collaborative efforts from the youth, government and other development stakeholders to increase the presence and contribution of the youth towards Kenya's economy," said Nyamache.

The youth, the economist said, must be yearning to access the necessary information, and the government establishes a favorable environment for business growth while development partners be pro- active in supporting projects initiated by the youth. Endi