The government is on a mission to revolutionise university education, with a focus on commercialising research and innovation emerging from institutions of higher learning.
Addressing the press in Mombasa, at the sidelines of the 2024 Commercialisation and Entrepreneurial Institutions Leaders’ (CEIL) summit, Principal Secretary for Youth Affairs Ismail Maalim Madey, alongside his counterpart in the State Department for Higher Education and Research, Dr Beatrice Inyangala, emphasized the government’s commitment to nurturing innovative graduates who will become job creators rather than job seekers. The summit’s theme is Youths, Jobs and Wealth Creation.
“We all know that Kenya is rich in innovative talent. Our goal is to harness these talents and transform them into something meaningful that can generate income for the talent holders,” said PS Madey.
“Through the Kenya National Innovation Agency (KeNIA), we’ve asked ourselves how best we can achieve this. As research and innovation are predominantly based in universities, we decided to engage these institutions and their leadership to explore how we can commercialize these innovative ideas.”
Research efforts
The collaboration between the youth affairs department, KeNIA, and institutions of higher learning, Madey noted, is designed to enhance the research efforts within universities, driving a significant shift in Kenya’s research institutions, industry, and innovation ecosystem.
KeNIA CEO Dr Tony Omwansa said the Agency has been studying how innovation gets funded globally and currently they are mainstreaming the new ideas locally.
He said when institutions diversify their sources of funding as opposed to relying solely on the exchequer; it solves the equation of limited funding.
“You will notice that we have invited the private sector into this forum. It is by design because they can provide funding and they have actually agreed to provide funding.
Secondly, you will see a number of donors, Kenyan and non Kenyan in this forum. So we are building a network of donors to support innovation…
As I speak, Sh78 million has been generated by innovators who have been supported through the programs we run.
And that money did not come from the University, it came from the investors. You see an innovator creates a solution which can scale and give returns so an investor looks at it as an opportunity to actually generate revenue in the future by injecting some resources,” said Omwansa adding now they are building capacity to the institutions to be aggressive in mobilizing resources.
Addressing the issue of unemployment, which remains a critical challenge both in Kenya and globally, Madey urged the education sector to rethink its approach.
“There is a need to change the mindset of young people and train them to create jobs rather than seek employment. Governments have ensured that every child is educated, but education should not end with returning home unemployed. Common sense dictates that after acquiring an education, one should get employed. However, with statistics showing that between 500,000 and 800,000 people join the job market each year, it’s unrealistic to expect any government or private sector to absorb all these young people directly.”
Recognizing this challenge, the government has crafted an elaborate plan to tap into the creative industry through a program titled who is next.
“This program aims to provide opportunities for talented young people across the country,” Madey explained. “We’re searching for Kenya’s next big name in the creative industry, which spans six genres, including dance and music, fashion and pageantry, comedy, and content creation. We’re casting a wide net across all 47 counties to discover the best talents, and the rewards will be substantial.”
