(L – R) Evans Oyaro, Diretor KIBT , Susan Mang’eni PS State Department for MSMEs and Mohammed Doyo , Secretary MSMEs , State Department for MSMEs Development.
By Peace Muthoka
NAIROBI, Kenya, November 4, 2026 — The government has launched a free digital training programme targeting more than 600,000 young entrepreneurs, women and persons with disabilities, in a move aimed at helping them access government procurement opportunities worth at least KSh300 billion annually.
The NYOTA AGPO Digital Training Programme, unveiled on Wednesday, is the fourth component of the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) project. It seeks to equip eligible groups with the knowledge and practical skills needed to register businesses, prepare tender documents and compete for government contracts.
The programme comes against the backdrop of a government procurement market estimated at more than KSh1 trillion in the current financial year. Under the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) policy, at least 30 per cent of annual public procurement is reserved for enterprises owned by youth, women and persons with disabilities.
However, the government says uptake of the reserved opportunities remains low, with many eligible entrepreneurs facing challenges such as limited awareness of AGPO, complex application procedures, lack of formal business registration and inadequate preparation to execute contracts.
The training is designed to address these barriers while helping participants build businesses capable of supplying goods and services to public entities.
According to Principal Secretary for the State Department for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Susan Mang’eni, the programme is expected to expand the reach of the NYOTA project to more than 820,000 beneficiaries, building on its existing components covering business support, on-job experience and recognition of prior learning.
Notably, the training is open to NYOTA applicants and the targeted AGPO groups, including women and persons with disabilities, regardless of age or education qualifications.
The course will be delivered free of charge through five self-paced modules over 10 weeks. Each module will run for two weeks, with the first week dedicated to coursework and the second to practical sessions.
Participants will learn about AGPO eligibility and certification, business readiness, public procurement procedures, bid preparation and tender documentation. The course will also cover registration and bidding through the government’s electronic procurement systems, including IFMIS and the electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) platform.
Other areas will include contract execution, cash-flow management, procurement financing, governance and record keeping, as well as strategies for building sustainable enterprises.
To strengthen practical learning, the programme will include webinars led by subject experts and industry representatives, alongside interactive sessions. The training materials will be available in both English and Kiswahili.
Interested participants can enrol by dialling the free USSD short code *254#, selecting NYOTA AGPO and following the registration instructions. Successful applicants will receive an SMS containing a link to the training platform.
The government, in partnership with Safaricom, is also arranging a subsidised data bundle to support participants undertaking the online course.
Beyond the training, the programme is expected to connect participants to business registration services and financing opportunities. Those who complete the course will receive proficiency certificates intended to strengthen their preparedness to pursue government tenders.
Entrepreneurs who do not have registered businesses or AGPO certificates will also be linked to the Business Registration Service (BRS) to register sole proprietorships. The government says it is working on waivers to make the process more accessible.
In addition, the government is developing a debt-offsetting mechanism that will allow AGPO contractors to discount invoices within 60 days after delivering goods or services.
The proposed mechanism is intended to ease cash-flow pressures among small businesses, which often struggle with delayed payments after securing and executing public contracts. The government says the intervention will complement a recent Cabinet directive prioritising the settlement of pending bills valued at KSh50 million and below.
The wider plan is to link training with business formalisation, financing and access to public contracts, while strengthening the 30 per cent procurement reservation across public entities.
The State Department for MSME Development has urged eligible youth, women and persons with disabilities to enrol and take advantage of the programme as the government seeks to increase their participation in public procurement.
