The government has kicked off a nationwide physical verification exercise for youth applicants under the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) project.
The World Bank-funded initiative aimed to transform the lives of vulnerable young Kenyans by creating employment opportunities, enhancing income generation, and promoting savings.
Under the Business Support Component, 100,000 youth entrepreneurs will receive entrepreneurship training, mentorship, and start-up grants of Ksh 50,000 each to launch and grow their businesses.
Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives and MSMEs Development Wycliffe Oparanya said the validation will take place simultaneously across all 290 constituencies to confirm the authenticity and eligibility of applicants before the final selection.
“The physical validation exercise, therefore, seeks to confirm the authenticity and eligibility of applicants, ensuring that only genuine and qualified youth are selected to benefit. The process will verify key details such as residency, education level, employment status, gender distribution, and disability, while also confirming that applicants are available to participate fully throughout the project cycle” he said.
“Only those who present themselves physically for the validation will be deemed responsive and eligible for selection, and there will be no repeat exercise thereafter. Each constituency will host a validation centre with breakout stations organised by wards to ensure efficient and transparent verification”, he added.
The validation will be led by Principal Secretaries, supported by elected leaders, National Government Administrative Officers (NGAOs), and the NYOTA Project Implementation Team through A whole of Whole-of-Government approach.
An Entrepreneurship Aptitude Test (EAT) is mandatory for all applicants. To take the test, applicants should send the word NYOTA to 40270 and follow the SMS prompts to complete all 19 questions.
The test is free of charge and can be done on any mobile phone in multiple languages. The deadline for completing the test is Friday, 24th October 2025, at 12:00 p.m
