State Department for Technical and Vocational Education and Training Principal Secretary Esther Muoria, Fresh Produce Consortium of Kenya Chief Executive Okisegere Ojepat, and Fawakih Import and Export Ltd founder Hassan Nandwa during a recent tour of the firm in Nairobi. [Nancy Nzau, Standard]
When Hassan Nandwa, 27, shipped his first consignment of Kenyan mangoes to Egypt in 2019, he thought he had cracked the export market.
Instead, he lost up to Sh4 million. The shipment was delayed, rejected over phytosanitary concerns, then later flagged for fungal contamination after weeks at the port.
By the time the fruit was cleared, the business had already absorbed a devastating financial blow.
Most entrepreneurs would have walked away, but Nandwa did not. Today, his company, Fawakih Import and Export Ltd, exports avocados and fresh produce to markets including Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, and the Netherlands. Yet despite growing demand abroad, he says his biggest challenge is no longer finding buyers. It is finding workers with the right skills.
“When I receive CVs, the first thing I look at is experience,” he said during a meeting between exporters and officials from the State Department for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
“You may have a degree, but if I have to train you from scratch, I will most likely hire someone with a certificate who already knows how the job is done.”
His frustration echoes a complaint heard across Kenya’s private sector. Employers struggle to recruit job-ready graduates, while thousands of young people leave colleges every year unable to secure employment because they lack practical experience.