A fresh Ksh 50,000 grant is available for young entrepreneurs, but a controversial blacklist is already in force as millions of young Kenyans hope to secure vital government funding to launch their businesses.

The government has confirmed that at least nine million citizens who failed to repay loans from the state-backed Hustler Fund are now barred from accessing the new National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) grants.

This move signals a decisive shift by the government towards enforcing strict financial discipline across its flagship empowerment projects.

NYOTA project is a new financial empowerment partnership between the Government of Kenya and the World Bank. It aims to boost job creation and financial literacy among the country’s youth.

It is a large-scale, five-year initiative focused on providing more than just credit.

The official launch of the project was slated for 18 September 2025, marking a critical step in supporting young entrepreneurs.

The core objectives of the project are to increase jobs, earnings, and savings among targeted vulnerable youth, to support 110,000 young entrepreneurs to either start or expand their businesses and to enroll beneficiaries into savings schemes, like the NSSF’s ‘Haba Haba’ product.

Through NYOTA, the state aims to support creation of 100,000 youth led enterprises. The support is structured, requiring beneficiaries to undergo mandatory training before accessing capital.

Specifically, 70 young people in all 1,450 wards across the country are expected to receive funding. The grants amount to KSh 50,000 per enterprise, disbursed in two tranches of KSh 25,000.

The focus is on helping those with a Form 4 level of education or below, who are currently unemployed or underemployed.

The Hustler Fund, officially launched on 30 November 2022, was the government’s flagship digital financial inclusion initiative.

Its purpose was to provide instant, low-interest loans to individuals and small businesses. The goal was to offer an alternative to high interest mobile loans that trap many low income citizens in perpetual debt.

However, the fund has been plagued by repayment challenges. Government records indicate a staggering nine million people have defaulted. The total value of these non performing loans has been cited to be around Ksh 5 billion.

By barring Hustler Fund defaulters from accessing NYOTA, the government is linking trust ability across state-backed financial products. This means that a failure to honour a debt in one programme now has severe consequences for accessing future opportunities.

The decision is already facing criticism, with some observers arguing that it risks pushing millions of ‘hustlers’ further into financial exclusion. They contend that many defaults were caused by factors such as inflation and hardship, not willful refusal to pay.

The government, however, is steadfast in its view that defaulters are taking opportunities away from others.