Talent Nurturing in Kenya: Structural Challenges Facing the Industry

For young minds growing up in the low-income settlements where poverty and inequality stare hard at their faces, no one really knows what life has in store for them. They grow up watching and hearing of all kinds of professions and ways of lives and they see little hope becoming part of it. Dreams of becoming doctors, engineers, economists, bankers and other sorts of hipped up occupations soon become realities of resorting to hand to no hope industries.

Most youths in the country have found ways of sustaining their pockets through art and artistry and talent. But still they face a lot of challenges:

Lack of originality: It has been observed that a lot of Kenyan people are talented but do not have their own way of way of showcasing their talents and will often try to copy the style of other people in the same field from the global world making it hard for them to be invited for international shows as they are often described as artistes that copy the style of others in huge efforts. This is often seen in musicians

Pirates: The particular groups of people are playing great roles in making the efforts of a respective artiste to be wasted. It has been noted that many of this end up getting the original copy that they go ahead to produce large numbers making it hard for them to sell albums, artwork or their talents and gain money. It is important that every talent corporate of Kenya goes ahead to punish people that are often found to be selling local talents e.g music, art etc.  in their shops without official receipts.

High Production Costs: The cost of producing music, poetry, and that of publishing a book, artwork etc., in the country is high making it hard for people to cope up with the price. Lot of young talents has been killed as many of them lack the required money to produce their talents as demanded by the respective producers. Kenya needs to get a way of making sure that artistes have better ways of bringing their talents to life and gaining from them.

Mismanagement of funds: Many young people find it hard to handle their funds at a more stable way and will often use the money for the wrong type of purposes. It is important that more stable ways be formed on how the money can be well distributed so as to avoid falling in the wrong hands of people.

Failed Educational Systems: In Kenya, many youths feel like the educational system and the social upbringing do not help individuals to realize their talents and use them effectively. So many youths are wishing to go beyond their ethnocentric art end up not nurturing their talents into useful skills because of little training and motivation. They end up getting motivation and role models from foreign nations through media and books

It is because of these challenges and other that the government, through the Ministry of ICT came us with the KBC Studio Mashinani which is set to help develop the talents of the Kenyan youth as well as helping them cope with the prevailing challenges.

According to the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of ICT, Mr. Joe Mucheru, “Studio Mashinani, as the name suggests, is a project through which the Government has taken recording studios to the grassroots level where the majority of talented youth reside.

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The Cabinet Secretary added that Five studios comprising two in Nairobi and one each in Machakos, Mombasa and Kisumu counties have been completed and plans are underway to eventually spread out to all the counties. The studios are fitted with modern high-quality recording equipment.

“Many of our talented youth hail from poor backgrounds and cannot afford the high cost of producing and recording their music and other creative content in commercial studios. Studio Mashinani will bridge this gap by providing state-of-the-art equipment and mentorship as well as access to platforms to commercialize their productions. Studio Mashinani leverages on talent as an asset that can pay, hence the mantra Talent ni Kazi, and that if properly harnessed, the creative energy and artistry of the youth can turn around their fortunes,” Said Mr. Mucheru.

Written by Amina Faki.