Gov't Announces Training Schedule for NYOTA Beneficiaries in 25 Counties

The government has published the official timetable of the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) Business Development Skills (BDS) training that will be conducted in 25 counties between November 14 and 17.

The NYOTA Project announced in a notice dated on Thursday, November 13, that the training is part of its continued exercise to provide young entrepreneurs with the important business skills before they can access the financial support.

The program will carry out capacity building on the youth beneficiaries and equip them to self-employ and manage businesses sustainably.

The NYOTA Secretariat stated that all the selected participants would get the formal SMS notification of the specific training venues in their respective counties.

The training of NYOTA Business Development Skills (BDS) in the following counties will start.

The individuals to be selected will be informally notified via SMS about the place where their training is going to take place.

The project also highlighted the fact that all shortlisted beneficiaries must attend the training.

The sessions must be completed before proceeding to the next stage, which involves securing the business capital assistance under the NYOTA program.

The statement further stated that all the selected beneficiaries are required to be present in the BDS training in order to be eligible to the subsequent stage, which is getting business capital support as part of the NYOTA Project.

Regional Coverage

The training session that is going to take place over four days will be carried out in various parts of the country at the same time:

Lower Eastern Region:

Counties of Kitui, Machakos and Makueni.

North Rift Region: the counties include Uasin Gishu, Trans Nzoia, West Pokot, Turkana, Baringo, and Laikipia.

High Eastern Region:

Isiolo, Tharaka Nithi, Meru, and Upper Eastern Region.

South Rift and Maa Region:

Nakuru, Narok, Kajiado, and Nandi counties.

Nyanza and South Rift Region: the counties of Siaya, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Migori, Kisii, Nyamira, Kericho and Bomet.

Warning Over Fake NYOTA App

This announcement follows only a day after NYOTA had issued a communication over a counterfeit mobile application that pretends to be associated with the project.

On Wednesday, November 12, NYOTA warned citizens against fraudsters posing as NYOTA Fund App. "NYOTA Project has no fund app. The news that is being spread about the fund app is counterfeit.

The project wrote: Youth remain vigilant lest you become a victim to fraudsters.

This alert was based on a similar scam alert by the Micro and Small Enterprises Authority (MSEA) two weeks before. On October 27, MSEA announced that it had received many reports regarding fraudulent M-PESA messages purporting that youth beneficiaries had obtained cash as a result of the NYOTA Project or NYOTA Foundation.

MSEA made it clear that it was receiving reports of fraudulent M-Pesa messages that they had been given money as a result of the NYOTA Project of NYOTA Foundation, and advised recipients to transfer the funds to unidentified numbers.

The authority reiterated that no mobile money payments have been conducted according to the NYOTA Project and advised Kenyans to check all the communication channels through the official channels.

Unless specifically requested, NYOTA has not made any M-Pesa payment. The agency further added that all official SMS messages addressed to youth should be dispatched by Nyota Ke and on the project-verified social media pages.MSEA also encouraged the citizens to be more vigilant and report to the concerned authorities about any suspicious messages or actions.

The message ended with a call to the population not to share, post or report such messages or suspicious activities.

The government continues to advocate for youth to interact with only proven NYOTA messages since it implements training and support programs to foster entrepreneurship, employment, and economic stability across the country.