Digital space incomes grow for Kenyan youth

Nearly half of the entrepreneurs and youth in Kenya who have received digital literacy training over the last four years have experienced increased income after transitioning into e-commerce, online marketing, and other digital jobs. Additionally, the number of individuals without any income dropped by a quarter following the training.

A survey conducted on participants trained through the DigiTruck digital literacy skills program revealed this positive shift. The program not only helped boost earnings but also contributed to a rise in both part-time and full-time employment, even among those who had been self-employed in low-paying jobs.

The DigiTruck initiative, a public-private partnership that started in October 2019, reflects the growing availability of employment opportunities beyond traditional formal jobs, which have seen slow growth in recent years. This program is spearheaded by Huawei, in collaboration with Kenya’s Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Creative Economy, Safaricom, and the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA).

Around 4,000 participants have benefited from 40 hours of training, covering essential digital skills like using smart devices, coding, marketing, website creation, avoiding online scams, document and presentation creation, and finding jobs online.

According to the survey, which focused on 800 trainees, those earning less than Ksh10,000 a month before training decreased from 32 percent (250 individuals) to 25 percent (195 individuals). The survey results were presented by Huawei and the ICT Authority during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

“Thirty-five percent of respondents attributed their income improvement to starting a business using the new skills they acquired,” the survey noted. Participants also highlighted opportunities in online jobs such as transcription, online writing, database management, running cyber-related enterprises, and online marketing, which signaled an expanded job market beyond traditional employment.

Additionally, the number of individuals whose income rose to between Ksh10,000 and Ksh20,000 increased by 27 percent, while those earning between Ksh20,000 and Ksh30,000 jumped by 44.3 percent. In the higher income bracket, those earning between Ksh30,000 and Ksh40,000 quadrupled, and the number of people earning more than Ksh40,000 doubled.

In terms of employment, the percentage of those unemployed decreased from 37 percent before training to 31 percent afterward. Part-time employment rose from 9 percent to 13 percent, and full-time employment increased from 6 percent to 11 percent.

As Kenya’s economy faces numerous challenges, many young people are turning to the digital economy in search of new work opportunities. However, many lack the digital skills needed to compete in this global marketplace.

The past four years have seen job creation in the formal sector stagnate due to a series of local and global shocks, including the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to widespread business closures, and a severe drought affecting the agriculture sector—Kenya’s largest employer.

Businesses have also struggled with increased operational costs due to rising energy prices and input costs, coupled with reduced consumer spending power resulting from high inflation.

According to the latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the number of jobless Kenyans rose to 2.97 million by the end of 2022, up from 2.7 million the previous year. Among those hardest hit are young people under the age of 29, particularly secondary school and college graduates. More than half of the unemployed (1.54 million) are between the ages of 20 and 29.

The unemployed include both those actively searching for work and those who have given up the job hunt altogether, as noted by the KNBS.

Despite Kenya’s economic growth in recent years, the jobs being created are often low-paying, informal positions that economists warn are insufficient to absorb the country’s rapidly growing youth population. By the end of 2022, 42.5 percent of private sector workers—approximately 882,500 out of a total workforce of 2.08 million—were earning less than Ksh50,000 per month.