Kenya's roads are getting quieter, and for hundreds of National Youth Service Alumni, life is getting louder with possibility. The story begins in 2023—the year the foundations of Greenwheels were laid, and the year a simple idea first took root—and it has grown, quietly and steadily, into roughly 350 income-generating opportunities for NYS Alumni across the country's fast-growing electric mobility sector, an idea whose time had come, riding the same green wave that is reshaping Kenya's transport landscape. Long before any agreement was signed, the work of opening doors had already begun, momentum building with every step until May 2026, when that momentum found its formal home in a partnership between the NYS Alumni and Greenwheels Africa—a partnership whose results the whole country can now celebrate, because young men and women who once asked where the work was now have a road to ride.
This is a story that sits at the meeting point of three of the defining agendas of our time: clean energy, youth empowerment and the fight against climate change. Every electric bike that replaces a petrol-powered one cuts emissions, quiets our streets and cleans our air, and every young person who earns a living from that bike turns the green transition into a personal triumph. It is e-mobility in action, and it speaks directly to the national vision championed by President William Ruto—a Kenya powered by clean energy, a Kenya where the transport sector leads the march to a low-carbon future, and a Kenya where young people are not spectators of that future but its drivers. The partnership takes that vision off the page and puts it on the road, one rider, one technician, one workshop at a time.
Those opportunities speak directly to one of the great challenges of our time—the unemployment of our young people—and they are as varied as the sector itself, with every role given its rightful place. Electric-bike riders carry home steady earnings, becoming the face of clean transport on every street they ride; EV rider trainers pass their skills to fellow Alumni, multiplying the impact of every lesson; technicians and mechanics keep a new generation of machines running smoothly, turning tools and know-how into dependable livelihoods; customer support teams stand at the customer's side, bringing the public closer to a cleaner way of moving; customer acquisition teams open new doors and win new converts to e-mobility; and internships give those just starting out a confident first step into a career. Each role is a doorway, each one matters, and together they open diverse pathways for men and women who have already given their country their service.
Then came August 2026, and a moment worth celebrating at NYS Camp MTB, where 339 servicemen and servicewomen and 22 NYS officers took part in an electric mobility training programme in which discipline met opportunity—learning electric-bike riding and operations, maintenance and servicing, and customer service, along with the practical skills that safe and professional operations demand—arriving as members of the Service and leaving as a workforce ready for the future, a reserve of 361 trained personnel standing ready to meet the growing needs of the industry.
This is the real achievement of the partnership: it joins skills development to employment, and the discipline of service to the dignity of sustainable income, so that every rider trained, every technician equipped and every opportunity created becomes proof of what is possible when purpose meets opportunity—the discipline built in uniform proving to be exactly what a modern industry needs, and the Alumni showing it on the road, in the workshop and at the customer's side, in a story of young people who were ready, and of partners who were ready for them.
Stories like this are never written by one hand, and the Alumni celebrate the people who made it possible, with special thanks to the visionary leaders who recognised both the need and the value of the idea—Lt. Gen. (Rtd) Njuki Mwaniki, MGH, CBS, OGW, ndc (K), former NYS Council Chairperson, and Mr. Ali Abbas Jeffer, owner of Greenwheels—and to Deputy Commandant General Nicholas Makokha for jumpstarting the idea and setting the whole journey in motion, their belief giving the partnership its direction and their support giving it room to grow.
Turning a vision into daily reality takes people willing to carry it, and the Alumni are proud of those who did: Eng. Omollo Reagan Sylvester, Deputy Chairperson and Head of Corporate Services, together with the relevant members of the National Executive Committee, carried the work from idea to implementation, while on the Greenwheels side Arturo Osorio, Head of Kenya, and Ms. Mercy Karimi, Head of Customer Operations, carried the vision forward at every step—and because of them, a plan on paper now travels the road, and to each of them the Alumni say thank you.
The partnership continues to connect skills development with employment opportunities and sustainable income generation for NYS Alumni, and the doors that first opened in 2023 are still opening; with 361 trained personnel now in reserve, the next chapter is already waiting, and every new rider, trainer, and technician adds to a story that is only beginning—the road ahead is electric, the future is green, and the NYS Alumni are ready to ride it.