KIPS graduate turns to repairing tyres for daily bread

By Naftali Makori

NAIROBI, KENYA: Mr Ben Mosaisi earns a living repairing flat tyres. It’s a far cry from the job of his dreams as a graduate of the Kenya Institute of Professional Studies. But Ben, who has a Diploma in Sales and Marketing, has been jobless for three years.

When he graduated, he was optimistic he would get formal employment.

After numerous applications with little feedback, Mosaisi, resolved to become self-employed to make ends. He has siblings in school and parents who look to him for support. Despite his small business, it is increasingly difficult to support the family on the income from his Nyamira town business.

“I depend on repairing punctures for a living,” Mosaisi says. “I use earnings from this job to feed my family.” He makes between Sh250 and Sh400 a day.  With the high cost of living, little of the money he earns is not consumed.  “It is difficult to save,” he says. “It is, therefore, difficult to get a bank loan to invest or expand business in this town.”

Mosaisi is the secretary of Hope Melody Self Help Group, which started to help jobless youths in Nyamira become self-reliant. The group also uses gospel music as a peg for harmony. Each member is a committed Christian and a singer.

Every other Saturday, you will find them at local churches as they let their melodies out for spiritual nourishment. They also use the opportunity to market their various products and services.

Contribute money

“The group started a year ago. It has enabled us do a lot,” says Mosaisi. “We have a merry go round type of association. We contribute money to support one of another start or expand his small business.”

Just a few metres away, Cliffeson Musa, who is patron to the group, is busy on a computer video-editing suite, finalising the video to their latest single. Musa holds a diploma in IT and Music from Eldoret Media and Music Institute. After years of “tarmacking”, he started working towards self-reliance. He owns a studio, although not fully equipped.

“Equipment is expensive, but with the little I have, we can successfully record our music here,” says the father of two. “Besides, I do video recording and editing. I use my skills to sustain my young family.”

Business is not good but it keeps him going. “Members to our group-cum-choir earn very little. We bite what we can chew. We intend to buy a better public address system that we can hire out so that we generate revenue for the group,” he adds.

Other group members engage in carpentry, groceries and other small business. Although many have completed college, they have not been lucky to get employment.

Most young have turned to informal sectors to eke a living. It’s common to have university graduates operating motorcycle taxis or selling vegetables as a source of income. The boda boda business has absorbed thousands of youths who would have been attracted to crime.

Richard Mosota, chairman Nyamira County Citizens Watch, a local civil society organization, says: “Crimes like mugging reduced when motorcycles started gaining popularity as a means of transport. There are isolated cases of theft but unfortunately it is the boda boda operators who are being targeted.”

Declined

Some operators have reported increased incidences where they are robbed of their motorcycles. Operators say that unlike a vehicle, stealing a motorbike is easy since the thief will easily ship it across the border without raising much suspicion.

According to the 2013 Economic Survey released last week by Devolution and Planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru, stealing was most notorious of crimes with slightly over 14,000 cases being reported from across the country. Others crimes reported included drug offences (4,181), robberies (3,262), homicides (2,761) and stock theft (2,377). The number of prisoners that passed through Kenyan jails declined from 247,000 in 2011 to 169,000 in 2012.

The report further showed that Kenya’s economy was able to create 660,000 jobs last year but only 12,000 were in the public sector. Jobs in Government had declined by over half as the economy created 23,000 jobs in 2011.

A whopping 591,400 jobs created were in the informal sector, meaning that the bulk of these employees were casuals working in the agriculture, manufacturing and wholesale and retail trade sectors among others.

Thus, the bulk of Kenyan workers earn peanuts making it difficult for Kenya Revenue Authority to collect revenue that can meet the set targets.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration has pledged to create over one million jobs annually and has often reiterated commitment to youth empowerment. The Government plans to allocate over 30 per cent of all its tenders to companies wholly owned by youths.