Finding Your Path
Using artificial intelligence as a patient tutor when you are teaching yourself — and where a tutor cannot replace a teacher.
Working out what to do next
Leaving school is exciting and frightening at the same time. Everyone asks “what will you do now?” and often you don’t have an answer yet. AI can’t decide for you — but it can be a thinking partner: someone patient to help you work out what you’re good at, what paths are realistically open to you, and what the first steps are. Below are the ways to use it, with ready-made prompts you can copy straight into ChatGPT or another AI and start using today.
Understanding yourself first
Before choosing a path, you need to know yourself. AI can ask you questions to draw out your strengths, weaknesses and interests — like talking to someone who patiently keeps asking. (It isn’t a real personality test or a diagnosis — it helps you think and put your own thoughts in order.)
Which paths are open to you
Think through, together, which paths realistically stand open — based on your interests, what you have, where you live, and the job market in Kenya. Not one dream job, but several possible directions, each with its ups and downs.
Breaking the goal into steps
Turn a big goal (“I want to become X”) into concrete steps: what comes first, what next, what costs time or money, and what you can start right now.
Finding the right training and courses
AI can help you find suitable training, TVET options and online courses with a certificate — including free ones. (Always check the actual course, price and deadline yourself — AI can be out of date.)
Starting a small business of your own
Not everyone is looking for a job — many want to start something small: an M-Pesa shop, selling fruit, a cyber caffe, a boda business, a salon, reselling clothes. AI can help you think it through before you spend your savings: what it costs to start, what you’ll earn, what could go wrong, and whether your area already has too many of the same.
Ready-to-use prompts
These prompts are yours to copy. Change the parts in [brackets] to fit your situation.
Finding your strengths & interests
I have just finished school in Kenya and I’m not sure what career to pursue. Ask me one question at a time about what I enjoy, what I’m good at, and what I struggle with. After about ten questions, summarise my main strengths, my interests, and three types of work that might suit me. Keep it honest and practical for the Kenyan job market.
Thinking through your options
Based on my strengths [paste your summary], suggest four realistic career or business paths I could follow in Kenya. For each one, tell me what it involves, what I would need to start, roughly how long it takes, and the main advantages and challenges.
Breaking a goal into steps
I want to become a [your goal]. Break this down into clear steps, starting from where I am now. Show me what I can start this month, what I’ll need to learn, any training or certificates required, and roughly what each step might cost in Kenya.
Finding training & online courses
Suggest ways I can train for [your goal] in Kenya, including local TVET options and free or low-cost online courses that give a certificate. For each, tell me what it covers and who it’s best for. Remind me to check current prices and dates myself.
Checking a business idea
I’m thinking of starting a [M-Pesa shop / fruit stall / cyber caffe/ etc.] in [your area] in Kenya. Help me think it through: roughly what it costs to start, what I could earn in a month, what the main risks are, and what I should check about my location before I begin.
A simple business plan
Help me make a simple business plan for a [type of business] in Kenya. Ask me about my budget, my location and my situation, then give me a clear plan: startup costs, monthly running costs, expected income, and the first five things I need to do to open.
Standing out from the competition
There are already several [type of business] near me. Help me figure out how I could stand out — what I could do differently, offer, or add — so customers choose me instead.
Writing your first CV
Help me write a simple, honest CV for a [type of job] in Kenya. Ask me about my education, skills and any experience, then put it together clearly.
How this fits our training
This page belongs to our practical AI training, which runs through institutions that already teach and continues after the course ends. See the AI overview or how to take part.
Shirikiana —> to work with one another. The founding values of the cooperative movement, self-help, self-responsibility and solidarity, remain the most practical basis for collective enterprise. We join knowledge, applied action and ethical responsibility in member-owned, member-governed enterprise, guided by the International Cooperative Alliance’s principle of concern for community. We proceed incrementally, attribute every partner by name, and distinguish demonstrated capacity from stated intent.