How Garissa's young professionals are retaining their skills at home

Human capital flight, popularly known as brain drain, impacts greatly on the development potential in areas where skilled professionals move from, and counties in the North East of Kenya have been no exception.

However, a group of young professionals from the region have decided to curb the drain by going back to the region and transferring their skills to the next generation.

39-year-old Fatuma Dubow says professionals and skilled individuals leave Garissa, Mandera and Wajir Counties for Nairobi and other a region struggling to develop.

“I was born in Garissa but though I did not grow up here, I would visit from time to time. I realised that professionals always leave to look for better opportunities in other counties that offer better prospects, especially in employment, and this has contributed to high rates of unemployment and led to high poverty levels among its population,” says Fatuma.

In 2019, Alinoor Hassan and Alinoor Bosh started the Northern Innovation and Empowerment Hub (NieHub) in Garissa as a dynamic social enterprise that would train the region’s youth to become its resource.

Alinoor Hassan is an economics development professional specialising in Small and Medium Enterprises, trade, and business start-ups while Alinoor Bosh is an independent journalist with a strong preference for the Horn of Africa.

Fatuma, who has a Master of Arts in Development Studies, is a community development specialist with extensive experience in marginalised North-Eastern communities.

She has partnered with the two Alinoors to make a meaningful impact in the lives of people in Northern Kenya.

NieHub has graduated its first cohort of 45 young women, having equipped them with digital skills and platforms to enable them to earn. They have also graduated with entrepreneurship skills to help them establish enterprises that will help them and their communities.

Upwork account

21-year-old Fatuma Said Abdullahi is one of the graduates who is already using her Upwork account to get data analysis jobs.

NieHub partnered with eMobilis, the developers of the Ajira Digital programme which offers training on online work opportunities through digital platforms such as Upwork, to offer these skills to the girls.

Some of the participants during the graduation of young women from Garissa who took part in the Northern Innovation and Empowerment Hubprogramme on February 14, 2024. (Photo: NieHub)

“I completed Form Four in 2022 and, until May 2023 when I joined Nie-Hub, I would stay at home doing housework. I have two siblings who are in Form Three and my father cannot manage their school fees and my college fees. I would have had to wait a whole year for them to finish so that my father could pay my college fees. My career option is in Information Technology, and I am glad that I have been able to achieve IT skills from Nie Hub,” says Fatuma.

Fatuma also wants to become an entrepreneur and says the digital marketing skills she has acquired from NieHub will be crucial in growing her enterprise in Garissa.

22-year-old Ayan Muhamed Abdi is another graduate who says she has learned invaluable insights from NieHub and has already identified a business problem and is already developing a strategy to address it.

She says Somalis in Garissa are very enterprising but they lag behind economically because they have not adopted modern skills that will propel them to compete favourably with their peers in other counties.

“The marketplace has moved to the digital space but businesspeople in Garissa are still dependent on the traditional ways of doing business. They are stuck in a maze where they are all running for the same customers, and this is affecting their businesses as they are not making adequate sales, let alone any profit. This has them in a perpetual cycle of poverty. My strategy involves partnering with three of my friends to offer digital marketing skills to improve their sales,” adds Ayan.

Omar Mahat Abdullahi is the master trainer at the NieHub, and he also admits that the brain drain is denying the region the opportunity to develop, as he has been part of the drain.

“I was born and raised in Garissa. After secondary school, I went to Garissa University and graduated with a degree in Information Technology. I went to look for work in Nairobi since I believed this city in the sun offers the best work prospects,” says Omar.

He has since returned to Garissa and is training young girls and boys who have completed their secondary education in digital skills, entrepreneurship and Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics (STEM) based careers.

Hawa Abdi, the Garissa Chief Executive Committee Member for Gender and Youth presents a certificate to Fatima Abdi Abdullahi who took part in the Northern Innovation and Empowerment Hubprogramme on February 14, 2024. (Photo: NieHub)

Omar says in the new world that is driven by technology, digital skills are crucial for the progress of any society.

“Interest in digital skills in the North Eastern region is still very low. While some schools have computer labs, many of the learners have still not shown interest in acquiring digital skills. Those who have digital skills have acquired them from colleges and universities and they are the majority who are leaving for other counties.

However, there is a lot of potential in the region, and the reason why other organisations such as GIZ and Young Scientists Kenya have partnered with NieHub to offer business and science skills respectively,” Omar adds.

NieHub is also pioneering the development of STEM clubs in secondary schools in the region, to help improve the uptake of science subjects, as here is where the greatest need is.

STEM subjects

Fatumma Dubow says that interest in STEM subjects in the region, especially among girls, is still very low, yet here is where the greatest need is.

“If the region is to prosper, we need more doctors, engineers, researchers, and analysts. We launched the STEM clubs programme last week, and seven of the girls we have trained, have become mentors in these STEM clubs. This is our first step in planting the seed of adopting science-based careers among our young people early on,” Fatuma says.

Seven girls and three boys have been trained in programming using programmes such as Scratch and Python, and these skills can be used to develop Apps, digitally interactive stories, games, and animation series among others,” says Omar.

During the graduation, Hawa Abdi, the County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Gender, Culture, Social, Youth and Sports at Garissa County said the county was committed to supporting innovations, particularly targeting women and girls in underserved communities.

She said empowering women through digital and STEM courses will not only propel careers in the tech industry, but is also a strategic move that will empower the next generation of women for the evolving job market.