A total of 40 youth groups have capitalised on the Youth Enterprise Development Fund to promote their enterprise development projects which have significantly transformed their livelihoods.
The Fund is currently domiciled at the State Department for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Development in the Ministry of Cooperatives, and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development.
According to the Kericho County Credit Officer Victor Langat, Sh 14,110,000 million shillings have been disbursed to 40 youth groups engaging in entrepreneurship in the County in the last year.
One of the beneficiary groups is Devmek Enterprises comprising 5 graduates who decided to venture into the poultry farming and furniture business from Fund they received from the organisation during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Devmek Enterprises Chairman, Dennis Kipchirchir Boit a Biochemistry graduate from Egerton University, and the Treasurer Emmanuel Kibet, a graduate of Agricultural Engineering from Rift Valley Institute of Science and Technology said the Sh 100,000 loan they received gave them a kick start to their poultry business.
“We started with 100 layers of chicks and over time we keep adding to the number, right now we have the capacity to hold over 300 chicks for egg production,” added Kibet.
He revealed that they bank over Sh60,000 every three months from the sale of middle-aged chickens which they sell to farmers within their Chepkolon village.
Kibet was excited to mention that the group has acquired an incubator and a high-technology brooder that uses temperature and humidity sensors to automatically turn infrared lamps on and off based on the room temperature in the brooder and enables faster and more uniform growth rate of chicks with a more minor difference in size between the biggest and smallest chicks
“We have acquired the incubator recently so we are yet to start using it to produce chicks which will earn us more funds,” remarked Kibet.
The young entrepreneurs have grappled with myriads of challenges including poultry diseases they have managed to control.
“Coccidiosis has been the main challenge affecting the chickens in poultry farming which is basically a protozoal disease that causes diarrhea, weight loss, and decreased production in poultry,” added Kibet.
They said another challenge was the high cost of feeds which they have dealt with by breeding black soldier flies which provide 35 percent amino acids and 50 percent proteins to poultry.
“The insect protein is of high nutritional quality and can be an interesting resource for animal feed and also neutralizes most disease-transmitting bacteria, such as Salmonella, thus limiting the risk of disease transmission to animals and humans,” said Kibet.
Also, the group is also considering venturing into Azolla production to supplement the insect protein for their poultry.
“Azolla is an aquatic nutritious floating fern, found in a temperate climate suitable for paddy cultivation. The fern appears as a green mat over water. The Blue Green Algae cyanobacteria (Anabaena azollae) present as a symbiont with this fern in the lower cavities actually fix atmospheric nitrogen,” said Kibet
According to Devmek Enterprises Chair Dennis Boit, the future was luminous for them now that they have agreed to re-invest their profits into other businesses such as the furniture business which earns them extra finances.
“We already have a workshop where we custom-make home and office furniture for our customers at affordable rates and so far, we are progressing well,” said Boit.
On his part, Kericho County Credit Officer Victor Langat was happy that the Youth Enterprise Development Fund had uplifted the lives of young people in the County adding that even the rate of repayment of the loans by the youth groups was commendable.
“I urge the youth to utilise the Youth fund loan opportunity since it has a low-interest rate of 6 percent for individuals and a management fee of 5 percent for group loans,” added Mr Langat.
By Kibe Mburu and Kevin Rotich
