1,000 painters targeted in national skills upgrade programme

A new nationwide training programme targeting 1,000 painters has been launched to professionalise Kenya’s painting trade and address widening skills gaps in the construction sector.

The Masterclass 2026 initiative will run in quarterly cohorts through 2026, beginning with 100 painters in Nairobi.

The programme comes amid rising demand for skilled finishing professionals driven by Kenya’s affordable housing programme and continued growth in private real estate development.

Despite the expansion in construction activity, painting remains largely informal, with many practitioners relying on unstructured apprenticeships. This has left gaps in technical skills such as surface preparation, product selection, finishing techniques and colour consistency.

MK Alpha Painters Director Catherine Wanjiku Gatiri said the programme seeks to introduce structured, site-based training to raise industry standards.

“Painters are on construction sites every day, yet most have never received formal instruction on surface preparation, colour consistency, or how to run a sustainable business. The Masterclass is here to change that,” she said.

The curriculum covers product knowledge, priming and surface preparation, finishing techniques and maintaining uniform colour quality, skills considered critical in delivering professional results and building credibility in the market.

Wanjiku said the goal is to create a credentialed, job-ready pool of painters that contractors, developers and homeowners can rely on with confidence.

By formalising training and promoting best practices, the programme aims to elevate painting into a recognised professional discipline while positioning skilled painters to benefit from Kenya’s expanding construction industry.