My Turn

Bail out graduates

It is not news that unemployment levels in the country are lowest than ever before. And the unemployment levels will exceedingly increase as time goes.

The coming in of technologically advanced machines, the increase in the number of graduates and the late retiring of old serving employees, among others, have led to reduction of jobs for the graduates. It is therefore not news that currently there are more graduates than jobs.

This has led to the struggling of the graduates and of the employed most of them are informal and are exploiting these individuals since they have less or limited options.

And some graduates have resorted to doing any job found on the table just to earn a living. This is indeed a pathetic situation as one struggles to get a degree for 4/5 years with the hope of having a better future and an elevated well-being.

The fact that parents/ guardians have struggled to pay for school fees with the hope of liberation from their poverty and in the end, nothing changes rather than putting them in dire poverty as resources have been exhausted is so disappointing. 

Bearing the high unemployment levels, other graduates have resorted to engaging in entrepreneurship. This is by far a better development as not only has it led to the entrepreneur to be self-employed but has also offered jobs to others.

However, all is not well, as the entrepreneurs struggle to get capital to let their ventures grow. As such it has led to stunted growth of their businesses and made some want-to-be entrepreneurs fear to engage in the sector. This has led to fewer graduates engaging in the sector as they don’t see a future.

Research has shown that most businesses fail within the first year. According to moyak.com it has been stressed that one of the setbacks of startup business failure is due to lack and inadequate working capital.

Due to lack of capital, most have failed. It is therefore high time that the government should put structures to help finance these startups by graduates. The graduates must be given sufficient resources for their startups.

Most graduates have failed to secure loans from the banks as the bank demands surety which the graduates do not possess. One would wonder where the banks expect one to get a surety when one just graduated. The banks have proven their mistrust by not financing the graduate’s ideas. Isn’t an idea worth the loan? The government should as such give a helping hand to bail out the graduates.

It is noted that the government put a loan board to finance needy students’ during their study; this was also supposed to be the case after students graduate. A structure could have been set where those graduates who want to engage in businesses are supposed to write a business plan and direct it to a loan board. The business idea will be assessed; if feasible the business gets funded on loan. A flexible repayment of the loan should also be put in place so as not to hinder the growth of the business. This could help reduce unemployment levels.

As election time approaches, contesting parties should consider implementing such structures for the betterment of the nation. As of late most individuals have questioned the essence of education as it is resource draining and is not offering hope. How can you convince someone to go further with studies when those educated are languishing in poverty? There must be an uplift to empower the graduate otherwise school is a resource and energy draining tool.

On many occasions the government has stressed that graduates need to venture in entrepreneurship. This is a good observation but there must be incentives to promote the ventures. The formation of flexible structures to allow graduates to access business loans is a step further to the development. Let the government consider capital provision to graduates as it is a life blood to business. This will lead to low levels of employment which is positive to the socio-economic development of our nation. n

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