Beyond Livelihoods: How Youth-Led Social Innovation Drives Community Transformation in Nakuru, Kenya

Abstract

In Kenya, youth unemployment remains a critical socioeconomic challenge, frequently forcing young people into informal or community-based survivalist enterprises. While youth entrepreneurship is widely recognized as an essential livelihood option, limited research explores the capacity of youth-led social innovations to catalyze broader community transformation. This paper analyzes the effect of social entrepreneurial innovation on community change within youth-led enterprises in Biashara Ward, Nakuru County, Kenya. The study adopted a quantitative cross-sectional survey design. Primary data were collected via structured questionnaires from 137 participants across 13 registered youth social enterprises. Social entrepreneurial innovation was operationalized through new ideas, processes, products, and services. Community transformation was evaluated using dimensions of empowerment, livelihood improvement, access to services, poverty reduction, and social cohesion. The empirical findings confirm that youth-led social innovation significantly drives community change. Young social entrepreneurs successfully generated practical localized solutions, optimized operational efficiencies, and developed products and services that directly address pressing social needs. The study demonstrates that social innovation operates simultaneously as an economic survival mechanism and a vehicle for youth-led community development. The study highlights the need for macro-level policy frameworks that are locally responsive to semi-urban ecosystems. It recommends that policymakers and development actors provide targeted mentorship, localized innovation support, and technical product-development assistance to youth-led social enterprises.