Nyota Fund is a political tool to reduce discontent among youth

President William Ruto presides over the disbursement of Sh147 million Nyota business star-up capital to 5,880 young entrepreneurs from Mombasa, Kwale and Taita Taveta counties at Jomo Kenyatta showground in Mombasa. [PCS]

The government has been rolling out the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement Project, popularly known as the Nyota Fund. Marketed as a flagship youth empowerment programme, Nyota is being presented as evidence that the State has been listening to the frustrations of a generation struggling with joblessness. While President William Ruto had previously insisted that jobs can only be found by shipping the youth abroad, a sudden idea occurred to turn some of the unemployed youth into entrepreneurs. Yet, when placed in historical and political context, particularly alongside the failed Hustler Fund and the youth-led protests of 2024 and 2025, the Nyota Fund appears less like a breakthrough and more like a rebranding of survival politics aimed at containing dissent rather than resolving its causes.