22 young people. One honest conversation. One difficult question: are young Kenyans building the lives they want, or are we simply surviving?

The latest Coffee Bar Tuesday at MuYI Hub brought together 22 young people for an open conversation about education, skills, employment, career growth and the realities of making a living in Kenya.

We began with a simple exercise: What did you study? What skills do you have? What is your area of expertise? And does your current work match what you trained for?

The responses revealed a reality many young people can relate to. More than 80% of the participants were not working in the fields they had studied. For many, the reason was not a lack of ambition or interest in their careers. It was simply the need to earn an income and survive.

From career development to survival

For many young people, the first priority is no longer necessarily “What career do I want?” but rather “What opportunity can help me pay my bills?”

The cost of living has made it increasingly difficult to wait for the perfect opportunity, undertake additional training or remain unemployed while searching for work related to one’s qualifications. Participants acknowledged that sometimes you simply take whatever work is available because life cannot wait for your career plan.

This creates a difficult cycle: you gain qualifications, find work outside your field, spend years trying to survive, and may never get the opportunity to develop the skills you originally trained for.

What are we actually good at?

The conversation also explored the importance of specialisation and self-awareness.

Participants observed that constantly moving from one profession to another can make it difficult to build expertise or become recognised for something. Focusing on the things we are naturally good at, developing those skills and building a reputation around them can create stronger career opportunities over time.

But this is easier said than done when economic circumstances force people to prioritise immediate income.

Are we competing for too few opportunities?

Another major concern was the competition for opportunities across generations.

Young people are entering a labour market where they may be competing for the same opportunities as people who have been working for decades. Whether someone is 18 or 60, the competition for limited jobs and income-generating opportunities remains real.

For the participants, this pointed to a bigger challenge: there simply aren’t enough opportunities for everyone who needs one.

The result is that many young people end up accepting whatever work they can find rather than what they are trained or passionate about.

The income gap and the poverty question

One of the most striking points raised during the discussion was the amount of income required for a person to move beyond poverty.

A figure cited during the conversation suggested that Kenyans would need to earn approximately KSh 1.8 million per person annually, compared with about KSh 285,000 currently, to reach an income level estimated to eliminate poverty.

That would translate to approximately KSh 150,000 per month, compared with about KSh 23,750 per month at KSh 285,000 annually.

We have not been able to independently verify the specific KSh 1.8 million/KSh 285,000 comparison from an underlying primary report, so it is best treated as a figure reported or discussed rather than an established official poverty threshold.

What is well established is that poverty remains a major challenge in Kenya. The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics reported that 39.8% of Kenyans—about 20.2 million people—were living below the overall poverty line in 2022. (Village Enterprise)

This brought us back to the central question of the evening: how can young people build their future when so much of their income is consumed by simply getting through the present?

When basic needs take everything

The conversation inevitably moved beyond individual careers to the wider environment in which young people are trying to build their lives.

Participants spoke about the cost of food, healthcare, education, housing and transport. The argument was that when households spend most of their available income meeting basic needs, there is very little left for saving, investing, starting a business, pursuing further education or developing a career.

One participant put it simply: if public resources are used effectively to ensure that basic services work, individuals could have more of their income available to build rather than merely survive.

Although the conversation was intentionally not designed as a political discussion, questions about governance naturally emerged because the economic environment affects almost every aspect of young people’s lives.

Hard work — but is hard work enough?

One of the strongest reflections from the Coffee Bar was the tension between hard work and opportunity.

Young people are often told to work hard, acquire skills and remain focused. But participants questioned what happens when someone works hard in an economy where opportunities are limited and the cost of living continues to consume their earnings.

The conversation did not dismiss hard work. Instead, it raised a deeper question:

What happens when hard work is only enough to keep you surviving, but not enough to help you advance?

From surviving to building a life

By the end of the discussion, there was a shared recognition that many young Kenyans are not necessarily lacking dreams, skills or ambition.

Many are simply operating in survival mode.

They have qualifications but work outside their fields. They have ambitions but cannot afford to wait for the right opportunity. They have skills but struggle to find markets for them. They want to build businesses but lack capital. They want to continue learning but have bills to pay.

And perhaps this is the bigger question that Coffee Bar Tuesday leaves us with:

Are we building the lives we want, or are we simply finding better ways to survive?

The conversation at MuYI Hub continues to provide a space where young people can ask these difficult questions without judgement, share experiences and learn from one another.

Because sometimes, before we can change our circumstances, we need a space where we can honestly talk about them.

☕ Coffee Bar Tuesday — Let’s Talk. Let’s Listen. Let’s Take Action.

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