PS Mang’eni: Why college, university students will not be eligible for Ksh50K NYOTA grant
By Kiprono Keileb, October 14, 2025The State Department for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development Principal Secretary Susan Mang’eni has clarified that the government’s newly launched NYOTA programme will strictly benefit youth at the bottom of the economic pyramid, those running businesses, not college or university students.
Speaking during a talk show hosted by a local television station on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, Mang’eni revealed that the fund has already received an overwhelming response from young Kenyans across the country, with over 1.4 million applications submitted.
However, she noted that a significant number of the applicants, nearly 200,000, were college and university students who do not qualify under the current eligibility rules.
“NYOTA Program is meant for those at the bottom of the pyramid. Almost 200,000 who applied were college and university students. College and university students are not eligible for the Nyota. 1.4 million applicants applied for the Nyota,” she said, adding that there are other initiatives targeting tertiary students.
Mang’eni emphasised that the programme was designed to uplift the most financially disadvantaged youth, especially those who are unemployed or running small-scale businesses in the informal sector. The fund aims to equip them with the resources to kickstart or expand their ventures as part of the government’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
NYOTA grant focus on young people at the lower end of the economic pyramid is intentional to ensure the program fulfils its core mission, to empower those who have limited access to traditional financing opportunities such as bank loans.
Managing expectations
The misconceptions surrounding the NYOTA Fund have led to widespread confusion among young Kenyans. Many, especially those in institutions of higher learning, assumed that the program was a general youth empowerment initiative open to everyone. This misunderstanding contributed to the high number of ineligible applications.
Her remarks come as the government moves to streamline the rollout of NYOTA and vet applications to ensure that the funds reach the intended groups.
The NYOTA program remains one of the government’s most ambitious youth initiatives, offering young Kenyans a chance to grow their livelihoods from the grassroots and reduce unemployment through entrepreneurship