Editorial Desk 
Valerie Karuwa, the Private Sector Partnerships Lead at Amahoro Coalition (Left), in discussion with Rachel Gathu, Project Officer, Private Sector Engagement at Ajira Digital Program, during the business executives' round table event held to explore ways of enabling the refugee population in Kenya to work online.[Photo Credit/KEPSA]
Private sector players are exploring ways to enable refugees in the country to work online and deliver business solutions through the Ajira digital program.
Ajira in partnership with Amahoro Coalition, targets to pool talents and services online from marginalized youth in the Kakuma and Daadab refugee camps in Turkana and Garissa respectively.
Moreover, it aims to offer hope to the refugees who find it hard to access opportunities beyond their camps by offering them digitally-enabled work regardless of their gender, background, geographical and physical conditions.
“We have a lot of talent waiting to be tapped among the refugee population in Kenya. We have seen many examples of bright but marginalized young people delivering quality work to global clients through online platforms. Our aim, is, therefore, to help grow and harness this talent to also deliver work for our local businesses,” said Ehud Gachugu, Project Director Ajira Digital Program and Youth Employment at Kenya Private Sector Alliance(KEPSA).
Ajira Digital Program, a government project being implemented by KEPSA, has been at the forefront of popularizing the local digital economy and improving livelihoods by championing the adoption of digital and online work in the country.
It offers free digital skills training and mentorship to help ease the young people’s transition to jobs in the digital space.
The program has to date recorded over 1.9 million Kenyans working online up from about 600,000 in 2020.
A study by Ajira digital dubbed ‘Private Sector Digital Outsourcing Practices in Kenya’ indicates that 59 per cent of the private sectors in Kenya are already sourcing digital services while another 75 per cent have intentions to outsource digital services in the future.
The Private Sector Partnerships Lead at Amahoro Coalition Valerie Karuwa urged leaders in the private sector to embrace inclusion by exploring the vast talent pool and digital skills that are available within the refugee communities.“Refugee inclusion brings countless benefits including dynamism in entrepreneurship, customer loyalty and reliability as borrowers, thus providing both a source and consumer market for businesses and states that include them. The private sector through innovative business models can champion more sustainable and dignified ways for refugees to access economic opportunities while creating value for their own companies,” said Karuwa.
The Ajira Digital Programme intends to work with different partners to unlock businesses, jobs and service opportunities that can be delivered competently by the refugee communities in the country.
It hopes to achieve this via online work channels and platforms by harnessing digital technologies and exposing young people through training while influencing private sector adoption of outsourcing.
