Gov’t Sets Deadline Date For Delayed NYOTA Grant Payments
Following weeks of uncertainty, the government has announced that grantees of the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) will receive the second tranche of their startup funds on June 30.
Susan Mang’eni, Principal Secretary for MSMEs Development, confirmed the events in a statement issued on Tuesday, June 2.
Mang’eni attributed the delays to budgetary restrictions caused by changes to the project’s implementation framework.
According to the PS, the World Bank-supported programme planned to roll out its Business Support Component in three separate intake lots.
The Principal Secretary, State Department for MSME Development, Ms. Susan Mang’eni
flanked by Micro and Small Enterprises Authority (MSEA) CEO Mr. Henry Rithaa, Dr. Moses Banda of the Presidential Economic Transformation Secretariat (PETS), and MSMEs Secretary Mr. Mohammed Doyo… pic.twitter.com/J7N4ljXbCz— MSEA Kenya (@MSEA_Kenya) June 2, 2026
However, considerable interest from Kenyan teenagers spurred a revamping of the program.
“The government acknowledges the increasing inquiries and concerns from beneficiaries on the disbursement of the second tranche and regrets the delay, which was caused by the compression of the project and concentration of the attendant budgetary requirements in one financial year,” PS Man’geni said in a statement.
Because of the need for an alteration of the fund’s structure, the Ministry entered into consultations with President William Ruto and World Bank officials.
This is after the government opted to implement the business support component as a one-off nationwide intake to avoid keeping prospective beneficiaries waiting for extended periods.
The statement added, “Following the intervention of His Excellency the President and the World Bank leadership in Kenya, the component was rolled out as a one-off intake nationwide to avoid delays for beneficiaries.”
Nyota project update pic.twitter.com/WwpRVo1uVn— Susan Auma Mang’eni (@SusanAMangeni) June 2, 2026
The shift in strategy now means that instead of rolling out the programme in separate phases or staggered batches over time, the government will carry out a single nationwide selection process where all eligible applicants will be assessed and enrolled at once.
This “one-off intake” approach has been adopted to handle the unusually high number of applicants, with the government estimating that at least two million youths have applied for the Business Support Component.
With the high number of applicants, processing beneficiaries in stages would have meant further delays for those waiting in later cohorts, hence the government’s decision to consolidate the selection process into a single exercise.
Despite the change in how beneficiaries were selected, the payment structure remained unchanged, with the startup support being disbursed in two tranches.
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Most beneficiaries have already received the first Ksh25,000, while the second tranche is scheduled for disbursement by June 30, 2026, completing the support package.
The update will come as a relief for thousands of prospective NYOTA beneficiaries, who were grappling with uncertainty over when the funds would finally be released.
President William Ruto concluded the first phase of the fund distribution in early February, where he distributed close to Ksh 2.5 billion to over 101 youths across the 47 counties.
The program is primarily funded by the World Bank, which provided a total project cost of approximately Ksh 25.8 billion (USD 200 million).
Besides providing support for youths to start and grow businesses with Ksh 50,000, the government is also using the money to train the youth under the On-the-Job Experience (OJE), a program that focuses on apprenticeships and workplace learning for 90,000 youths.
Gov’t Sets Deadline Date For Delayed NYOTA Grant Payments
