The high unemployment rate among college graduates has seen some resort to menial jobs while others have turned their passion into a source of income. Newton Owino, who graduated in tanning chemistry, used his knowledge in a company that recycles waste, for example fish skin, to produce shoes and other things. [Kisumu graduate generating income by recycling waste - capitalfm.co.ke]
Owino established his firm Alisam Products Development and Design in 2006. He makes fabrics from silkworms.
The youthful entrepreneur also uses fish skin and other waste materials to design leather shoes and collects hair from salons and barber shops to make door mats which he sells locally.
He states that he started the venture as a research scientist and a leather tanner in Kisumu County.
Later it turned out that the area had few slaughterhouses to supply him with raw materials like animal hides.
The gap, he says, made him seek an alternative where he settled for fish skin that was abundant in the region.
He started training unemployed youth in a bid to transfer his skills and offer them an opportunity to earn a living while conserving the environment.
“I have over three hundred women who are doing pre-tanning operations for us. They are registered and we train them separately after which we buy the fish pelt they produce and through this, they are empowered economically,” said Owino.
