Kasarani Member of Parliament Ronald Karauri has proposed setting up free content-creation hubs across Nairobi, saying the county should help young people turn their digital skills and online audiences into sustainable sources of income.
Karauri said his plan would involve establishing facilities equipped with content-production equipment where young people could create digital material without having to invest heavily in studios and other resources.
“We want to start mini ICT hubs, but not for ICT, for content creation,” he said during an interview.
He explained that the facilities would be housed in containers and equipped to allow content creators to access production resources at no cost.
“I’ll make sure that we put those containers in Nairobi so that people can go there and do those things for free,” he said.
The proposal forms part of his wider approach to youth employment, which he says should focus on creating an environment where businesses can grow and generate jobs rather than relying solely on county government recruitment.
Karauri acknowledged that elected leaders often face expectations from supporters seeking employment opportunities, but argued that the number of people looking for jobs cannot all be absorbed into the county workforce.
“Usually that is the promise that people give, that they’ll hire them in the County of Nairobi,” he said.
He added that while some residents could secure jobs within the county administration, the more sustainable approach would be to support businesses that can employ more people.
“The main thing is enabling the business environment,” he said.
Karauri argued that when businesses are able to operate and expand, they create employment opportunities beyond the limited positions available in government.
“If you allow people to do business, they are the same people who hire other people,” he said.
His proposed content-creation hubs are intended to support this broader economic approach by giving young people access to tools and spaces that could help them develop their work and potentially earn from digital platforms.
He noted that Kenya has a large social media audience but argued that local creators were not earning as much as they could from their online activity.
Karauri singled out platforms such as TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, arguing that Kenyan creators and businesses should benefit more from the country’s strong digital consumption.
He said one of the challenges was the limited number of businesses investing in online advertising, which he believes affects the amount of money available to creators through digital platforms.
“The reason that the payment is not as much as other countries is because not as many businesses are pushing their advertisements through those channels,” he said.
In his view, supporting local businesses would have benefits beyond traditional employment, including increasing opportunities for content creators through advertising and other forms of digital revenue.
“Once you have businesses pushing a lot of advertising through those channels, the pay will go up for sure,” he said.
Karauri’s proposal therefore links youth empowerment to two areas: access to affordable production facilities and the growth of businesses that can create demand for digital content.
He also proposed waiving first-year business permit fees for first-time small-scale entrepreneurs, saying the county should make it easier for young people to establish businesses before requiring them to pay annual charges.
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Under the proposal, the county would initially register the business, with the entrepreneur beginning to pay the relevant fee after the first year.
The MP said the intention was to reduce the barriers facing people who want to start small businesses.
His approach places the private sector at the centre of his proposed job-creation strategy, rather than making county employment the main solution to unemployment.
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