Mastercard Foundation sees 5m Kenya jobs growing from its agriculture plan

OUKenya’s unemployment rate is expected to rise to 10.5 percent by 2020 from the current 9.3 percent, as formal jobs in continue to dwindle.

Mastercard Foundation plans to create 30 million employment opportunities across Africa, including five million in Kenya, in the next 11 years. It has identified agriculture, also a key pillar of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four Agenda, as key to its efforts to create job opportunities for the youth.

The Business Daily caught up with Reeta Roy, the MasterCard Foundation’s president, to discuss their ambitious plan.

WHAT SOLUTION IS MASTERCARD PROVIDING IN REGARD TO YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN AFRICA AND SPECIFICALLY HERE IN KENYA?

We want to ensure that the youth get dignified and fulfilling work, especially the young women. In Kenya we have a target of creating five million jobs by 2030 and we anticipate to move faster here because our vision is aligned to the Big Four Agenda, and as you know agriculture is one of the Big Four items that government is focusing on. This offers us a big opportunity to provide access to finance, access to quality farm inputs, access to market and a chance to mobilise farmers and entrepreneurs along the value chain to create jobs.

HOW SUSTAINABLE IS THIS PLAN TO CREATE JOBS, GIVEN THAT MANY INITIATIVES STARTED BY DONORS END UP NOT LASTING FOR LONG?

We have learnt a lot from other donors and funders who have been generous to share with us the knowledge on what works and what does not work. One of the things that distinguishes us as a foundation from others is that we take a long-term view. We are not looking at how long it will take us but rather our focus is on sustainability after we have left. Some of our programmes are not just five years or 10 years, some take much longer to achieve.

At the very beginning of our programmes we do something very important, which brings about sustainability. This is through listening and learning from the people who are close to what we are trying to solve — whether it’s access to education, access to inputs or finance. We ask what they would consider to be a success. More often donors come and success is seen from their own eyes, not from the eyes of the people in need. We really think about what we need to do to ensure that the projects go on when we are not there. And this brings in the aspect of skills and knowledge, which have to be imparted to people. Sustainability is not about foreign aid, it is about the initiative, about knowledge and ability of people to continue with something long after the funders have left.

HOW MUCH HAVE YOU COMMITTED, ESPECIALLY TO THE KENYAN YOUTH IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS IN AGRICULTURE?

Let me start by the big picture. Across the continent we have committed over $200 billion. Kenya has been one of the largest recipients of our funding and it has been a very instrumental country in terms of educating us, informing our thinking and strategies and has so far received $300 million already. Now with Young Africa Works initiative, we need additional resources to be able to start this programme in Kenya, which will continue to be one of the largest partners for the foundation because of its size and the entrepreneurial energy. At the policy level so many things are going right, creating the right environment for scaling up our activities.

YOUTHS HAVE BEEN SHYING AWAY FROM AGRICULTURE, AND FARMING HAS BEEN LEFT FOR THE AGING POPULATION. WHAT IS YOUR FOUNDATION DOING TO MOTIVATE THE YOUNG POPULATION TO EMBRACE FARMING?

No one embraces anything unless they see that there is an opportunity, and sometimes this opportunity is invisible. So much of our work is to make what is invisible visible. The workforce on the farms are aging and the average age of a farmer currently is 58 years while those of young persons is 18.

But the way to look at it is the size of agriculture in terms of economy, its contribution to the GDP. Then you stop looking just at the farmer but rather the entire value chain that comprises producers, processors, logistics and retail. If you look at the entire value chain, there are a lot of jobs and we should help young people to see that and how they can fit in.

Today’s farmers are knowledge seekers and they have so much knowledge that they can transmit to the next generation. With this, the next generation can acquire some entrepreneurial skills which can be coupled with their digital savvy. When you combine these two, a lot can happen in terms of progress.

AFRICA HAS SOME OF THE LOWEST LEVELS OF ACCESS TO FORMAL FINANCIAL SERVICES IN THE WORLD. WHAT IS MASTERCARD FOUNDATION DOING TO ADDRESSING THIS CHALLENGE?

For the last 10 years, a huge component of what we have done has been around financial inclusion, and massive amounts of funds have been disbursed towards agriculture. We know that farmers are not seen as an attractive lot to financing institutions as they are perceived to be risky both in terms of repayment and weather unpredictability that could lead to crop failure.

That is why we have come in to fill the gap even as we encourage banks to lend to farmers. Again, financial institutions are not the only places where farmers can get loans. If you look across the supply chain agribusinesses who interface with farmers are also points for growers to access cash.

Look at what Equity Bank is doing in Kenya. There is a lot of banking activity in rural Kenya and not just at their major branches but at the agency level as well. These banking agencies are not only conveyors of financial access but also a good point for collecting data. For banks to be confident in issuing loans, they need three things — to understand seasonality of crops, cash flow and be able to see data over period of time — to be well placed to know how to design products which meet the needs of farmers.