By Arnold Ageta
Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo today led the graduation ceremony for the County Youth Digital Empowerment Programme, celebrating students who successfully completed their digital skills training at the county’s ICT hub.
The 57 out of 60 students from Cohorts 3 and 4 joined graduates from Cohorts 1 and 2, bringing the total number of youth trained under the initiative to 200.
Speaking during the graduation ceremony, Governor Nyaribo announced that his administration will register the graduates into an academy designed to nurture their talents and track their career progress.
“Plans are underway to assist graduates to acquire laptops through bank loans. This will help them in starting self-employment,” Governor Nyaribo said.
Expanding the Digital Footprint
The Governor emphasized that his government is committed to decentralizing the initiative, with plans to extend the digital training programmes to all sub-counties to benefit more youth.
In addition, he promised to install reliable internet infrastructure across the sub-counties to enable youth to work online seamlessly.
The comprehensive curriculum covers graphic design, cyber security, web development, digital foundations, virtual assistance, content writing, and prompt engineering.
Governor Nyaribo noted that these courses offer job-tailored skills reinforced by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“This intensive, hands-on training is enabling graduates from our Digital Hub to acquire massive opportunities in the digital world,” he said, congratulating the class for mastering AI skills and learning how to harness its power for innovation and ethical decision-making. “You have now strategically positioned yourselves to work globally from the comfort of your devices.”
He further challenged the graduates to use their newfound skills to solve Nyamira County’s unique challenges, such as spurring sustainable farming through AI-driven analytics and building robust cybersecurity systems for emerging trade and e-governance platforms.
Protecting Innovations and Securing Funding
Also present at the event was Kisii University don Ms. Teresa Abuya, who urged the graduands to scale their skills and build enterprises that create employment for themselves and others.
“Through these digital skills, you are able to do online jobs, develop websites, and create attractive online portfolios that will attract more clients,” Ms. Abuya said, emphasizing that a strong portfolio gives freelancers a vital head start. “This graduation marks just the beginning of your innovation journey. Identify a problem in the community and come up with a solution.”
Ms. Abuya strongly advised the youth to protect their intellectual property once they develop community solutions.
“Before someone else steals your innovation, you need to protect it through the Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI) and the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) where you can patent your works,” she advised.
To achieve long-term success, she encouraged the graduates to remain intentional, focused, and to register Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) to tap into donor funding.
“Team up in groups of two or three so you can apply for funding to scale up your innovations,” she concluded.
Transforming Lives: A Beneficiary’s Testimony
The impact of the programme was highlighted by Ms. Millicent Nyanga’ra, a beneficiary and single mother of one from Esise Ward in Borabu Sub-county.
She lauded the Governor for the initiative, sharing that it has already enabled her to start a small income-generating venture.
“At home, I informed people that I can design wedding cards, funeral programmes, and offer other online services,” said Ms. Nyanga’ra.
She also expressed her deep gratitude to the county leadership for their ongoing support: “Again, last year, you gave my boy who is at Nyansiongo Boys High School a scholarship.”
Ms. Nyanga’ra closed with a rallying call to other women in the community: “I urge single mothers and young ladies who want to change their lives to join this programme to better their future and that of their children.”
