Questions, answered.

Inuka is a free program space inside Fuzu that helps eligible young people in Kenya prepare for and connect to digital-ready work. It offers career guidance, profile support, free learning, job-readiness activities, and access to verified opportunities where digital tools are part of the work.

Inuka is a Swahili verb meaning to rise up, get up, take action and move forward. The name reflects the goal of the program: helping young people rise into work and move forward in their careers. Fuzu means to succeed — so “Inuka Ufuzu” reads as “rise, then succeed.”

Inuka is delivered by Fuzu in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. The program is part of a broader effort to help young people access dignified work and build employability in the digital economy.

The normal Fuzu website is open to many job seekers and employers. Inuka is a dedicated program space inside Fuzu for eligible young people who meet specific program criteria. Inuka gives qualifying participants more targeted support, free learning, guidance, and access to selected digital-ready opportunities.

Yes. Inuka does not replace your normal Fuzu account. It adds a dedicated program space and support journey for eligible participants. You should still be able to use the wider Fuzu platform for other jobs, learning, and career tools.

No. Inuka is not a separate job board. It is a supported program space inside Fuzu, built for eligible participants and connected to Fuzu’s wider matching, profile, learning, and employer tools.

Yes. Inuka is a program; Fuzu is the platform it runs on; in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. Inuka is a dedicated program space inside Fuzu, connected to Fuzu’s matching, profile, learning and employer tools — not a separate job board.

It stays yours. Your Fuzu profile, your skills and your Fuzu account remain with you after the Inuka program ends. Inuka is a start, not a season — the profile you build keeps working for you.

Inuka is designed for young people who are between 18 and 35 years old, live in Kenya as citizens or legal residents, face financial or job-market barriers, and are interested in digital or digitally enabled work.

For this program, it generally means that you are unemployed, underemployed, earning a low or unstable income, living in a low-income urban, peri-urban, or rural area, or facing barriers that make it difficult to access dignified work.

Not necessarily. You may qualify if you are unemployed or underemployed. Underemployed can mean that you work only occasionally, earn too little to meet your needs, have unstable work, or are looking for better and more dignified income opportunities.

The program uses financial-need checks, including whether a participant’s average self-reported income has been below US$150 per month over the past six months. The eligibility check should explain this in simple terms and avoid making users feel ashamed.

The proposal refers to Kenyan citizens or legal residents. Refugees, asylum seekers, displaced youth, and other legal residents may be eligible if they meet the program requirements and Kenya’s legal requirements for work.

Yes. Refugees and displaced youth are among the program’s priority groups, provided they meet the eligibility requirements and legal requirements for work in Kenya.

Yes. Youth with disabilities are a priority group for Inuka. The program should provide accessible content, inclusive job search support, and guidance around accommodations where possible.

Yes. Young women are a major priority group for the program. This includes young mothers, single mothers, women from rural or marginalized communities, and women facing barriers such as caregiving responsibilities, gender bias, or limited digital access.

Yes. The program is designed for eligible young people across Kenya, including low-income urban, peri-urban, and rural areas. Some opportunities may be location-specific, while others may be remote, hybrid, or field-based.

No. Inuka should not require a university degree. Some jobs may need specific education or experience, but many digital-ready roles are entry-level or junior roles where practical skills, communication, reliability, and willingness to learn matter.

Not always. Some roles may require experience, but Inuka is designed to help young people build employability, improve their profiles, and access entry-level or junior opportunities.

No. Inuka is not only for people with advanced computer skills. You should be willing to learn and use digital tools. Many roles may start with basic phone, internet, communication, typing, customer service, or record-keeping skills.

Yes. Many digital-ready roles involve phones, apps, WhatsApp, mobile forms, customer communication, or digital payments. Some roles may require computer access, but you do not need to be a tech expert to begin.

You can still use the main Fuzu platform. The eligibility check should guide you clearly and respectfully, without making you feel rejected. Where possible, it should suggest other Fuzu resources, jobs, or learning options.

Not necessarily. Inuka has program criteria and may also have cohort limits, priority groups, and verification checks. The page should avoid promising automatic admission.

You will answer a short set of questions about your age, location, current work situation, income, and interest in digital-ready work. The program may also use surveys, profile information, referrals, or spot-checks to confirm eligibility and protect program integrity.

Inuka is designed for young people who face financial barriers. These questions help ensure that free program resources reach the people the program is meant to support.

No. Inuka is not only for coders, software developers, or IT experts. It focuses on jobs where digital tools are part of the work. This can include customer support, admin, sales, data entry, online tasks, e-commerce, operations, field work using mobile apps, and entry-level tech roles.

Digital-ready work means a job where you use a phone, computer, online platform, mobile app, spreadsheet, customer system, POS system, digital payment tool, or other digital tool as part of your daily work.

No. Some opportunities may be remote, but others may be local, office-based, field-based, or hybrid. What matters is that digital tools are meaningfully part of the work.

Examples include online customer support, virtual assistance, data entry, data verification, content review, social media support, digital sales, admin support, e-commerce support, field sales using mobile tools, records digitization, logistics support, IT support, QA support, and data annotation.

Yes, if digital tools are part of the work. For example, a field agent using a mobile app to collect data, onboard customers, update records, or report activity could fit the program scope.

Yes, if they are fair, safe, clearly paid, and digitally enabled. Examples include digital sales support, online lead follow-up, CRM-based sales, WhatsApp Business support, or field sales using mobile reporting tools.

Inuka should not focus on purely offline manual work, unpaid work, unsafe jobs, unclear cash-in-hand gigs, jobs that charge candidates money, or roles where the employer cannot clearly explain the work, pay, requirements, and conditions.

No — Inuka is free for participating youth. You will never be asked to pay to register, learn, apply or get placed.

No. Program learning and job-readiness support provided through Inuka should be free for participants. Some external partner opportunities may exist, but any cost must be clearly explained before a participant chooses to join.

No. Fuzu, Inuka, Mastercard Foundation, and participating employers should not ask you to pay for job placement.

Fuzu reviews opportunities shared through the program to reduce fake jobs, unclear roles, and unsafe opportunities. You should still read every job description carefully and report anything suspicious.

Do not pay. Report the person, message, or job post immediately through the Inuka or Fuzu reporting channel.

Use the Report a concern channel on this site or inside the program space. Reports go to the program’s own safeguarding route and are handled with care.

Yes. Your information is used to support your profile, matching, learning, applications and program eligibility, and it is not shared without the required permissions. See the program’s privacy and data-protection pages for details.

No. Employers should see information relevant to your job application and profile, not private financial-need details used for program eligibility.

No programme can honestly promise that. What Inuka gives you is a stronger profile, real skills, verified opportunities and someone in your corner — which is what actually moves the odds.

Yes. You should only accept work that is safe, clear, fair, and suitable for you.

You may learn how to build your profile, apply better, prepare for interviews, communicate professionally, use digital tools, understand workplace behaviour, stay safe online, and improve job readiness.

Some learning activities may provide digital badges, micro-credentials, or certificates, depending on the course or partner. These can help show employers what you have completed.

Some participants may receive coaching or targeted support depending on need, availability, and program design. All participants should receive some form of guidance through the platform.

Yes. Participants should receive recommendations, alerts, reminders, or nudges based on their profile, interests, and suitable opportunities.

Where possible, Inuka may provide onboarding guidance, retention support, reminders, or follow-up activities to help participants settle into work.

The program may test limited, time-bound support for some of the most disadvantaged participants after verified placement milestones. This should never be presented as guaranteed support for all participants.

Inuka may guide participants to relevant learning opportunities from partners, including free or affordable training pathways. Any requirements or costs should be made clear before you apply.

Inuka helps employers connect with motivated young people in Kenya who are preparing for digital-ready work. Employers can open fair roles suitable for youth and use Fuzu’s tools to identify suitable candidates.

Employers with safe, fair, clearly paid roles where digital tools are part of the work can apply to partner. This may include SMEs, startups, NGOs, agencies, BPOs, e-commerce businesses, logistics companies, call centres, digital platforms, and larger enterprises.

Employers can submit roles in customer support, admin, digital sales, data entry, data verification, content review, e-commerce support, logistics support, field roles using mobile tools, helpdesk, QA support, data annotation, and other digital-ready roles.

Generally, no. Inuka is focused on digital and digitally enabled work. A role should involve meaningful use of a phone, computer, platform, app, digital system, or digital workflow.

Approved employers should be able to share qualifying program roles at no cost. The program should be clear that this applies to eligible roles for Inuka participants, not necessarily all Fuzu employer services.

Employers should commit to fair treatment, clear pay, safe working conditions, non-discriminatory hiring, and openness to young women, persons with disabilities, refugees, and youth from underserved communities.

Yes, if the role is fair, safe, clearly defined, and suitable for program participants. Remote roles should include clear expectations around working hours, tools, supervision, communication, and payment.

Yes, global employers may be relevant if they offer fair remote or digitally enabled roles suitable for young people in Kenya and meet the program’s employer requirements.

Normal Fuzu gives employers broader hiring tools and access to the wider talent marketplace. Inuka is a specific program pathway focused on eligible youth and digital-ready roles, with added emphasis on inclusion, youth outcomes, and fair access.

Fuzu can support matching and shortlisting through profiles, platform tools, and program logic. The exact level of support should be explained during employer onboarding.

Yes, employers may use Fuzu more broadly, but Inuka-specific roles and support should remain focused on eligible program youth.

The program should reserve the right to remove job posts, suspend employer access, investigate concerns, and protect participants.

Yes. The landing page and program space should be mobile-first and low-data, since many target users will access it by phone.

No — the site is designed to be lightweight, fast-loading and text-first, so it works on a metered bundle and on 3G.

You can start if you can access the internet often enough to complete your profile, learning, and applications. Some roles may require more reliable access than others.

Yes. A laptop is not required to start. Some roles may require computer access, but many program activities should work on a phone.

Inuka uses simple English, with Kiswahili summaries and bilingual support under consideration as the program grows.

The first eligibility check takes about 2 minutes. Building your full Fuzu profile takes longer, but you can do it step by step on your phone.