Why We Started with Employers Instead of Youth

When people hear about youth employment programs, the first instinct is almost always the same:

"How many young people are you going to train?"

It's a fair question. For years, success has often been measured by the number of youth who attended a workshop, completed a course, or received a certificate.But when we began building the HR Taskforce in Mombasa in late 2024, we deliberately chose a different starting point. We started with employers.

At first, this seemed counterintuitive. After all, our mission was to create opportunities for young people. Why spend months sitting with HR managers, factory owners, hotel operators, logistics companies and business associations instead of recruiting youth?

Because we had learned something important. Training youth without understanding demand is like building houses without asking whether anyone wants to live in them.

FYI: The HR Taskforce was incubated by the Global Development Incubator and established in partnership with Swahilipot Hub Foundation as part of the Global Opportunity Youth Network (GOYN)

The Vacancy Comes First

One of the first things we did was meet employers across different sectors.

Not to ask them to hire more young people. Not to ask for donations. Not even to pitch the HR Taskforce. We simply listened.

We asked questions like:

• What roles are hardest to fill?
• Where do candidates struggle most?
• Why do new employees leave within the first few months?
• If you could change one thing about the local talent pool, what would it be?

Those conversations changed how we thought about youth employment. The problem wasn't always a lack of jobs.

In many cases, employers had vacancies they simply couldn't fill with candidates who were ready for work.

Every Vacancy Has a Story

A vacancy is rarely just an empty position.Behind it is a business problem.

A hotel that can't recruit housekeepers loses service quality.

A manufacturer short of machine operators delays production.

A logistics company without reliable warehouse staff misses delivery targets.

Employers don't wake up wanting to solve youth unemployment.They wake up wanting to solve business problems.

If we could help solve those problems, employers would naturally become partners in creating opportunities for young people.That shifted our entire mindset.

Building Pathways Backwards

Instead of saying,

"Let's train 1,000 young people and hope they find jobs,"

we asked a different question:

"What jobs already exist, and what does it take for a young person to succeed in them?"

From there, we worked backwards. We identified sectors with real demand. Thanks to GOYN Mombasa, they had already mapped the skills employers actually needed. We involved training institutions to align learning with workplace expectations. We strengthened job readiness, not just technical skills. We built relationships with employers before asking them to recruit. And we supported young people before, during and after placement. The pathway began with demand and ended with successful employment.Not the other way around.

Employers Are Not the Destination. They Are Partners.

One lesson from the HR Taskforce journey is that employers should never be viewed as the final step in a youth employment programme.

They should be involved from the beginning. When employers help shape the pathway, everyone benefits. Training providers know what to teach. Young people know what employers expect. Employers receive candidates who are better prepared. And placement stops being an event and becomes part of a system.

A Different Measure of Success

Starting with employers doesn't mean ignoring young people.

It means respecting their time.

Every young person who joins a programme deserves a realistic pathway to employment not just another certificate.That requires understanding where opportunities exist before designing interventions around them.

Looking back, starting with employers was one of the best decisions we made while setting up the HR Taskforce in Mombasa. It reminded us that sustainable youth employment isn't created by training alone.

It is created by connecting the needs of businesses with the potential of young people, then intentionally building the bridge between the two.

That's the bridge we continue to build.