What is the name of your organization?
Pratham International
What is the name of your solution?
NexTayari: From skills to work
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
NexTayari is a placement platform for underserved youth in Kenya, empowering youth to learn, explore jobs & connect with industry partners directly.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Dover, DE, USA
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
USA
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
Kenya is facing a growing youth employment crisis. Nearly 1 in 3 individuals under 35 are unemployed despite actively seeking work. Many others are trapped in “vulnerable jobs” that lack security, benefits, and pathways for advancement—particularly in the informal sector. Youth from modest or marginalized backgrounds often lack access to mentorship, job networks, or career guidance, leaving them unaware of how to pursue better opportunities. Existing platforms largely cater to white-collar roles, creating a critical access gap for blue-collar and informal sector workers.
The urgency is compounded by demographic trends. According to the World Bank, Kenya’s working-age population is projected to increase by 9 million between 2015 and 2025. One-third of this growth will be youth aged 15–24, highlighting the pressing need for more productive and inclusive job opportunities.
Simultaneously, employers report hiring challenges—over 30% struggle to recruit white-collar workers, and more than 20% face issues hiring for blue-collar roles. Most rely on informal recruitment channels and encounter a mismatch between job requirements and candidates’ skills.
Our solution addresses both sides of this gap—equipping youth with soft skills, career tools, and verified job networks, while helping employers find work-ready talent—ultimately improving labor market efficiency and youth livelihoods across the region.
What is your solution?
Our solution, NexTayari, is a digital platform that addresses youth unemployment and job mismatch by equipping young people—especially from marginalized communities—with the tools to discover career pathways, build employable skills, and connect with verified job opportunities. It also helps employers find work-ready candidates for blue-collar and informal sector roles.
More than just a job-matching site, NexTayari is a mobile-friendly, offline-capable platform designed to be accessible in under-resourced areas. It integrates training content, career discovery tools, and AI-powered insights in a simple, human-centered interface. Youth can explore careers, receive bite-sized soft-skills training, track progress, and connect with mentors and employers.
NexTayari serves three key stakeholders: youth, vocational training institutions, and employers. Youth access skilling resources and job connections. Training institutes use it to enhance teaching and support placement. Employers gain access to a broader pool of verified, prepared candidates. All users have tailored interfaces for easy navigation.
The platform also generates insights through data analytics to support policy and ecosystem actors in improving youth employment systems. By building skills, expanding access, and supporting better hiring practices, NexTayari has the potential to transform how young people across Sub-Saharan Africa prepare for and thrive in the workforce.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
NexTayari, is designed to meaningfully serve underserved youth aged 15–30 in Kenya. These youth often face multiple barriers: limited access to quality education, weak social networks, a lack of career guidance, and few pathways into secure, fulfilling employment. Through NexTayari youth gain access to career discovery resources, soft-skills training, mentorship, and verified job opportunities. The platform also offers progress tracking and connections to employers, helping young people not just get a job, but grow a career.
Beyond the youth, our platform also provides support to Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority (TVETA) Centres by offering them institutional dashboards that help align teaching efforts with workforce requirements and outcomes. Through the digitization of youth and employment data, the platform enables better progress tracking, youth management and data retrieval and analysis. Further, the platform enables trainers to facilitate job-matching, receive and align to industry feedback, and disseminate training content.
Employers are a critical part of the ecosystem. NexTayari hopes to develop a seamless, low-barrier entry for employers to connect with skilled youth, especially for short-term or entry-level roles. Employers can post job opportunities, browse candidate profiles, and engage with them by being part of a counselling network.
