Entrepreneurship is not silver bullet to unemployment

The way we discuss entrepreneurship in Kenya makes it look like the silver bullet to everything. When issues of high unemployment rates are being discussed, entrepreneurship is thrown around as the only answer.

When the issue of low absorption of university graduates into the job market is tabled, entrepreneurship is suggested as a solution. When people question the role of government in job creation or at the very least in delivering jobs promised to the youth, we are told to become entrepreneurs. It is the standard response used to mask the failure of government to accommodate job seekers and creators.

The activity of setting up a business, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit is what simply defines entrepreneurship. That said, there are several factors that must be in play for anyone pursuing this path to succeed. First, there needs to be an understanding that starting a business is not a blanket solution to unemployment. Unemployment is a multi-sectoral issue that can only be addressed adequately when various arms of government and the private sector work together. It is, therefore, deeply false to minimise and box every unemployed person as an entrepreneur when not all of them want to be business owners.

Second, it is key to examine what it takes to start and run a successful business. In the Kenyan context, starting a business is a marathon with an endlessly moving finish line. There are so many impediments- from conceptualising a business idea, registration, clearance, tax and numerous licences that it is not viable for youth who don’t have resources.

Third, it is important to understand that it is not the duty of the people hoping to run successful businesses to ensure that the economic environment is good. It is government’s work to curb unhealthy competition, grant priority to citizens, shut corruption loopholes that hinder small businesses from operating honestly— and just genuinely caring about the people by securing their work. Government should play its part by being inclusive and employing able Kenyans instead of constantly recycling people who have been holding positions endlessly. Fourth, the education system needs to stop emphasising on entrepreneurship as the only great outcome that graduates should seek. We can’t ignore the importance of humanities, the arts and the role of creatives all over the world. The impact created by diversity is the only sure thing we can bet on. Successful entrepreneurs sometimes didn’t make profit for a long time—a luxury many employed people being told to start business cannot afford. We must be realistic in what we are asking of unemployed youth when it is public knowledge that those who loudly advocate for entrepreneurship are often employees who don’t have to juggle the uncertainties of Kenya’s economic environment.