The State Department for Youth Affairs and the Creative Economy has issued a notice to beneficiaries of the NYOTA Business Start-up Grant Programme in several counties, advising them to take note of a revised disbursement schedule.
The notice, shared on Wednesday, January 21, outlines new dates and venues for the grant disbursement exercise, which will be presided over by President William Ruto.
"Beneficiaries from Embu, Meru, Tharaka Nithi, Kilifi, Lamu, Tana River, Taita Taveta, Kwale and Mombasa counties are advised to take note of the revised schedule for Business Start-up Grant disbursement," the notice read.
The department then explained that the disbursement exercise will be overseen by President William Ruto and detailed the first set of dates and locations.
"The disbursement exercise shall be presided over by President William Ruto and will take place as follows: on 22nd January 2026 at Meru for beneficiaries from Embu, Meru, and Tharaka Nithi counties," the notice added.
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Further dates were also announced for beneficiaries from coastal and lower eastern counties, with specific venues named for each group.
"On 27th January 2026 at Kilifi for beneficiaries from Kilifi, Lamu and Tana River counties; and on 28th January 2026 at Mombasa for beneficiaries from Taita Taveta, Kwale and Mombasa counties," the notice further read.
The State Department clarified that details for the remaining counties will be released later, asking beneficiaries to await further communication.
"Disbursement dates and venues for the remaining counties, Marsabit, Wajir, Mandera, Garissa, Kisumu, Siaya, Homa Bay, Migori, Kisii, and Nyamira will be communicated in due course," the notice concluded.
This comes months after the NYOTA Project issued a warning to the public over a fake mobile application falsely claiming to be linked to it.
In a statement on Wednesday, November 12, NYOTA cautioned Kenyans against falling victim to scammers circulating misinformation about the supposed app.
"NYOTA Project has no fund app. The information being circulated about the fund app is fake. Youth, let’s stay alert so that we don’t fall victim to fraudsters," the notice read.
Prior to that, the Micro and Small Enterprises Authority (MSEA) had warned Kenyans against fraudulent M-PESA messages claiming that youth have received funds from the NYOTA Project or NYOTA Foundation.
In a statement released on Monday, October 27, MSEA issued a scam alert after receiving multiple reports of fake messages prompting recipients to send money to unknown numbers.
"We have received reports of fraudulent M-pesa messages claiming that youth have received funds from the NYOTA Project or NYOTA Foundation and prompting recipients to send money to unknown numbers," the statement read.
MSEA emphasised that no M-PESA payments have been made to any beneficiaries of the programme, and urged the public to be vigilant and only trust communications from verified sources.
"Please note: NYOTA has not sent any M-pesa-related payments. All official SMS communication to youth will be sent only from 'Nyota Ke' and through the project's verified social media pages," the statement added.
As such, the authority called on Kenyans to exercise caution when receiving suspicious messages.
“We urge the public to ignore, avoid sharing, and report any such messages or suspicious activity," the statement concluded.
