BrighterMonday And Mastercard Foundation Bridge Naivasha’s Talent Gap with Skills-Based Hiring Model

BrighterMonday and Mastercard Foundation are advancing young people from Naivasha and its environs to enable youth and marginalised groups to fully participate in the labour market, apprenticeships, and entrepreneurship. The initiative is aimed at shifting academic-based hiring to skills-based employment systems that are anchored in digital access, employer, and industry collaboration as well as inclusive policy frameworks.

Naivasha is an economic powerhouse with concentrated employer demand yet, it faces a critical talent readiness gap. The region hosts hundreds of flower farms, cold-chain logistics providers, transport companies, industrial plants, financial institutions, insurers, and telecom operators.

“Employers in Naivasha are actively seeking job-ready talent, they face significant sourcing challenges. While businesses are actively hiring, they report consistent difficulties: sourcing prepared candidates, managing high attrition, addressing limited soft skills, overcoming poor interview readiness, and contending with low digital literacy among entry and mid-level candidates. This mismatch between employer demand and jobseeker readiness directly impacts business productivity and regional competitiveness,” said Penina Kimani, Country Programme Lead, BrighterMonday Kenya.

Despite this economic vibrancy, jobseekers in Naivasha and its environs face critical barriers: limited access to structured career guidance, low digital job-search skills, limited awareness of cross-sector opportunities, and minimal direct engagement with employers. This disconnect between economic opportunity and jobseeker preparedness is a key constraint on regional growth.

“Through the GenKazi Program in partnership with Mastercard Foundation, the initiative is designed to accelerate women’s and youth participation in the workforce market and dignified economic opportunities in Naivasha and its environs. BrighterMonday continues to work closely with employers to enhance candidate matching and job placements. We have already trained over 210,000 women, non-urban youth, persons with disabilities, and displaced persons on soft skills. Additionally, we have created over 48,000 job placements for young people,” added Penina.

The Initiative demonstrates a scalable solution to Kenya’s youth unemployment crisis. The model is replicable across Kenya’s key economic zones to transform youth employment outcomes nationwide, towards national transformation towards dignified work and entrepreneurship.

The Generation Kazi programme, implemented by BrighterMonday Kenya, continues to drive gender-responsive workforce transformation, targeting 70% women, 70% non-urban youth, 10% persons with disabilities, 10% displaced persons, ensuring that those furthest from formal opportunity are positioned at the centre of labour market interventions.

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