With the rollout of the revolutionary Hustla Bazaar phenomenon, the days of one struggling to find buyers for their products and services or settling for meagre and exploitative prices are quickly ending.
The Hustla Bazaar, powered by the Ministry of Youth Affairs, The Arts and Sports, has been availing this platform to ordinary citizens and vendors to showcase, market and sell their products and services to a wide array of customers in all its engagements, both youth, sports and creative arts related.
This week’s launch of the National Youth Week at The University of Nairobi was no different either. The ministry set up the Hustlar Bazaar, where the youth showcased their innovative wares and sold their products and services to the masses who thronged the event to celebrate this week-long event, which will culminate in the celebrations of International Youth Day (IYD) at the Moi International Sports Centre – Kasarani.
Among the key innovative ideas on display at the IYW was the agenda on making Agriculture Cool, intending to come up with viable solutions to food security and, in turn, helping to combat the effects of climate change in Africa and beyond.
Meet Ruth Brenda from Kiambu County. She deals in cultivating fresh vegetables and beekeeping in her mission to contribute to food security in Kenya. With only half an acre of land, Ruth has established one greenhouse. Here she grows and sells coriander since 2020.
Additionally, the down-to-earth, hardworking, innovative farmer has incorporated Bee Keeping into her farming activities, from where she sells honey to help boost her revenues.
“Agri-Business is possible, and no one is limited. It is a cool undertaking that puts pesa mfukoni for us as a youth,” she remarked. “It is not enough to sit back and wait for white-collar jobs. One can venture into small-scale farming like I do and take advantage of such platforms provided by the ministry to grow their businesses and make money.
Ruth also has five greenhouses. Here she actively engages in production. Further, Her ultimate dream is to scale up and venture into exporting her products.
Ian Mutisya, a 35 years old farmer from Machakos County, has also been in Agri-Business since 2015. Armed with the motivation to create more job opportunities for the youth, the 2020 winner of the Machakos Youth Cog started with a kitchen garden, gradually growing into livestock farming and beekeeping with various levels of value addition.
“Through informative workshops and collaborations, we have all the equipment to implement eco-friendly techniques that benefit the environment and future generations,” he enthused.
He says that with the rollout of the revolutionary Hustla Bazaar initiative, the platform has provided him and his peers with opportunities to exchange ideas, share best practices and support each other by creating a free atmosphere that strengthens them to grow together.
He and Ruth expressed their gratitude to Ababu Namwamba for the Hustla Bazaar idea, which they said is geared towards empowering the enterprising youth, including those that have ventured into farming like them, by creating a thriving ecosystem that benefits all stakeholders.
“These two are setting good examples that the youth can equally make it in Agri-Business, which is in line with our Kenya Kwanza Government’s agenda of making Agriculture Cool,” quipped CS Ababu Namwamba when he met them at the Hustla Bazaar during the IYW. “It signals a promising future not just for them but our youth in general, as is evident from the rewards of their hard work, dedication and innovation,” he noted.
