BQ Correspondent 
Ajira Digital hosted an executives’ roundtable with the industry leaders in Business Process Outsourcing at Sarova Panafric Hotel to explore strategies that will help promote Kenya as a leading global labour choice destination to local, regional, and international organizations seeking digital talents and resources.
This meeting was mainly advised by Ajira Program’s effort to create one million work opportunities annually for young people in the country through digital and digitally-enabled work. Today Business Process Outsourcing(BPO) is a growing industry in Kenya, with the country being recognized as a key outsourcing destination in Africa.Additionally, the industry has grown significantly in the past decade yet most people are not conversant with the sector. According to the Kenya Investment Authority, the BPO sector in Kenya has grown by an average of 20% annually over the past five years.The sector employs over 36,000 people and generates over USD 400 million in revenue each year. With good governance and a more enabling environment for BPO, more jobs can be generated as the BPO industry grows. This translates to dignified work for more Kenyans, translating into an improvement in quality of life, and as a result, contributing to the national economy.
“Based on Kenya Vision 2030 blueprint, the ICT sector is expected to contribute 10% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the Kenyan economy. As an enabler, ICT has contributed immensely to improvement in e-government services, e-business, e-commerce, entrepreneurship, and digital skills and enhanced market competitiveness of the country’s products and services. One of its successful projects in promoting the digital economy is Ajira Digital Program which seeks to position Kenya as a choice labour destination for multinational companies as well as encourage local companies and the public sector to create digital work. The government digitization projects especially at the Judiciary have created lots of viable micro work that can be completed by digital“I was trained and mentored by Ajira Digital back in 2021 after looking for a job in my field of study for three years. I pursued Transcription, Virtual Assistance, data entry, and digital marketing. I landed my first client on Upwork with whom I have worked with for a year-long contract. As young people, we are tech-savvy and aware of the trends in the global village.
The question is who knows about our capabilities? This is why such forums are important and good to start convincing global clients of our capacities,”Joyce Kimani said. Dr.Ehud Gachugu, Director of Ajira Digital Program and Youth Employment at KEPSA, “The global labor market is converging Businesses in the West save up to 70% of the costs just through outsourcing hence the reason that inspired this meeting as we focus on growing the outsourcing industry to make Kenya a global freelancing hub while creating more work opportunities for young people in the digital space. The outsourcing sector needs to be structured to safeguard and futureproof its capacity as we all ensure wealth creation and growth of the economy.” Speaking on young people’s digital skilling, Ken Mwenda, Managing Director eMobilis Technology Training Institute said, “The revised Ajira Digital curriculum that is being implemented by eMobilis with over 27 modules, young women and men are able to access free diverse digital and digitally-enabled work skills. Young people can now access free online workreadiness skills in various categories including basic, crosscutting, and advanced.The advanced modules offer skills such as Artificial intelligence (AI), Financial Markets, App Development, Cyber Security, and Cloud computing offered under the AWS restart program. The skills development intervention builds the required confidence for local and global BPOs to outsource work to the Kenyan Youth.”
Ajira Digital is excited to embark on this strategic business process outsourcing which aligns with its long-term strategy of job creation for the youth.By partnering with industry-leading BPOs, Ajira Digital will unlock significant operational efficiencies and focus on delivering exceptional value to young people in the country.The resolutions will ultimately position the Ajira Digital program for sustained growth and enable the program to stay at the forefront of the industry.
